Although ethnicity is a contributing factor to the ongoing crisis in South Sudan, particularly after the re-escalation of violence in December of 2013, the characterization of the conflict as an ethnic crisis is insufficient. This analysis will reframe the violence in terms of both its proximate and root causes, including a comprehensive examination of systemic problems of underdevelopment. The reframing of root causes is necessary to appropriately create the local, regional, national, and international responses that will dually address the immediate sources of violence and contribute towards the social, legal, and institutional infrastructure required to transition the new nation from conflict to durable peace and stability. This argument will be substantiated by a historic analysis of South Sudan done in three distinct segments: Sudan's 1956 independence until the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), including an analysis of the two civil wars between the North and South; the interim period, between the 2005 CPA and South Sudan's independence in 2011; and the post-independence period. The final sections offer pragmatic, cross-sectoral recommendations for peacebuilding and capacity building in order to ameliorate the current humanitarian crisis and to establish the human and national security that will guard against conflict recurrence. The recommendations will both consider current cross-sector approaches which privilege traditional actors, such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governments and present new recommendations that include nontraditional actors, such as Internally-displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, and diasporic communities.