Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, like much of South Sudan, is in a protracted state of social and economic crisis, rooted in generations of armed conflict, forced resettlements, and a shift towards a cash and market economy. Since the 1980s, family…
RVI publishes books, research reports, research papers, briefings and meeting reports in a range of formats. Publications cover policy, research, arts, culture and local knowledge in the countries of eastern and central Africa. Research publications—books, reports and papers—are peer-reviewed. Some RVI publications are also available in French and/or Arabic.
The RVI is a signatory of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2001); all publications are free for download in PDF format under Creative Commons licences. The views expressed in books and reports published by the RVI are those of the authors, not the Institute.
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Fifty years ago, most households in South Sudan produced the grain they ate, organizing agricultural labour and distributing small surpluses mostly through kinship and other social networks. Now, the majority of households buy most of their food. This transition…
South Sudan’s customary authorities play an important role in local government, justice, and as intermediaries or brokers between local communities and the government. While significant attention was paid to the role of customary authorities in South Sudan’s statebuilding project…
War, Migration and Work outlines how the changing economy has affected social relations in the Northern Bahr el-Ghazal borderlands, particularly between the old and the young, and men and women. The result is a fraying social system, where intra-family…
An analytical account of the growth of “people-to-people” peace meetings in Sudan and its borderlands, with a comprehensive bibliography and time-chart of peace meetings over two decades in Southern and Northern Sudan (including Darfur and the transitional zone between…
This report assesses obstacles and risks to the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and outlines steps to be taken to avoid a return to conflict. The product of a seminar held by the Horn of Africa Group,…
A guide to Sudan’s electoral system – one of the most complex in the world – and its effects on the distribution of power. The report analyses government documents to reveal errors and ambiguities in the demarcation of electoral…
A policy paper on Sudan’s political future analysing the critical events facing the country in the run up to the April 2010 elections and the 2011 referendum on self-determination for Southern Sudan. Copublished by RVI with Chatham House (the Royal Institute…
This briefing paper, submitted to the UK Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan, discusses some of the challenges facing the international community in the lead-up to the April 2010 elections in Sudan. The paper follows up issues raised by an…
Abyei has proved to be the hardest part of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to implement, harder, even, than the determination of the rest of the North-South boundary, or the division of oil revenues. In this personal commentary Douglas…
Recent Publications

የድንበሮች ውዝግቦችና ሊያስከትሉት የሚችሉት ምስቅልቅል: በምስራቅ ኢትዮጵያ በኦሮሚያ እና ሶማሊ ክልል አዋሳኝ አካባቢዎች የሚታየው የወሰን ውዝግብና እና ጥንቃቄ የሚሻው የሰላም ጥረት
July 18, 2025
በኦሮሚያ እና በሶማሊ ክልል ድንበር አካባቢ የሚገኙ አከራካሪ ቦታዎች ላይ አስተዳደራዊ ቁጥጥርን ለማጠናከር በሚደረገው ፉክክር የሚነሱ ግጭቶች የተዳፈኑ ቢመስሉም ጨርሰው አልጠፉም። ይህ በምስራቅ አፍሪካ ረጅሙ የሀገር ውስጥ የክልሎች ወሰን ሲሆን፥ አካባቢው ከ2009–2011 ግጭት እና የአገር ውስጥ መፈናቀልን ያስከተለም ነበር። የኢትዮጵያ

የከተሞች ውዝግቦች በኢትዮጵያ፡ የድሬ ዳዋ፥ ሐዋሳና ሆሳዕና ጥናቶች ጭምቅ
July 18, 2025
በኢትዮጵያ ከአዲስ አበባ ያሉ ከተሞች ውስጥ የሚታዩ ውዝግቦችን ማጥናት ከመዲናይቱ በመቀጠል ያሉ ከተሞች ጉልህ በሆኑ የማኅበረ-ኢኮኖሚያዊና ፖለቲካዊ ለውጦች መሐል እንዴት እየተለዋወጡ እንደመጡ ለመረዳት ያግዛል። የኢትዮጵያ የከተማ ማዕከሎች የአገሪቱ የፖለቲካ ግጭቶች፥ የኢኮኖሚ ምስቅልቅሎችና ማኅበረ-ባህላዊ ስብራቶች የሚገኙባቸው ስፍራዎች ናቸው። ይህ ጭምቅ የጥናቶች

የሕዝባዊ ክዋኔዎችና የፖለቲካ መልክ በአዲስ አበባ
July 18, 2025
ከ2010 ወዲህ ያለው የኢትዮጵያ የፖለቲካ ምህዳር በጋራ ትውስታዎች የተሰናሰሉ የታሪክ አተረጓጎሞች የፖለቲካ ወገንተንነትን እንደሚቀርፁ የሚያሳይ ነው። ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ዐቢይ አህመድ ወደ ሥልጣን እንደመጡ የታላቁ ትውፊት ትርክቶችን (great tradition narratives) ማቀንቀናቸው የርሳቸው ድጋፍ ማዕከል ከሆነውና ይህንን ትርክት ከሚገዳደረው የኦሮሞ ማኅበረሰብ የታሪክ