During war, geographies of economic and political power are often recast by shifting patterns of trade and population movements. This can present an opportunity for local leaders to reshape legal and moral logics to attract trade and people to areas under their control. But these shifts can also create ambiguities and tensions that extend into times of peace. Wartime Trade and the Reshaping of Power in South Sudan explores these dynamics by looking at the capture and co-opting of wartime trade in the village of Mayen Rual and the contemporary conflict in the village of Nyinakook in former Warrap state, South Sudan.