Negotiating the social service tax: contested revenue generation in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, South Sudan

After the end of South Sudan's civil war in 2005, new government structures and practices emerged, fostering contestations over authority and revenues. This article describes state formation processes, inter-governmental negotiations and citizen-state relations in South Sudan by exploring the trajectories and negotiations over the social service tax in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state. Economic and political developments such as the 2010 elections, the 2012 halt of oil exploration and the 2013 decline into civil war greatly shaped local and state level negotiations over the social service tax.