Adjunct Distinguished Professor of Security Studies
Luka Biong Deng Kuol, PhD, is an adjunct distinguished professor of African security studies and was previously the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. His areas of expertise include National Security Strategy Development and Implementation in Africa; Management of Security Resources in Africa; the Development–Security–Governance Nexus; Post-Conflict Transitions, Peacebuilding and Statebuilding; and Livelihoods, Vulnerability, and Food Security in Africa.
Dr. Kuol is a Global Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), a Fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, and an Associate Professor of Economics (on leave) at the University of Juba in South Sudan. He is a member of the United Nations Security Sector Advisory Council, a member of the African Security Sector Network, and a founding member of South Sudan Studies Association. He also sits on the editorial board of the Disasters Journal.
Prior to joining the Africa Center, Dr. Kuol served as a Minister of Presidential Affairs for the Government of Southern Sudan and as a National Minister of Cabinet Affairs for the Republic of Sudan. He was also the Director of the Institute of Peace, Development, and Security Studies at the University of Juba. He was also a member of the teaching staff of the Faculty of Economics and Rural Development at the University of Gezira in Sudan. He was a resident fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. He has also worked as a senior economist for the World Bank in Southern Sudan.
He has published articles and book chapters in a wide array of international journals and has served as a peer reviewer for more than 15 journals. He is the lead author of the National Security Strategy Development in Africa: Toolkit for Drafting and Consultation published by the Africa Center. He is a co-editor of “The Struggle for South Sudan: Challenges of Security and State Formation,” co-editor of “Abyei: Between Two Sudans,” and author of “Confronting Civil War: Vulnerability and Resilience in South Sudan and Sudan” and “Why Does Famine Persist in Africa?”
He earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and his M.A. in economics and Master of Business Administration from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Areas of Expertise
Food Security, Drivers of Migration, Conflict Analysis, Peace Agreements, Resilience and Vulnerability, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development, Referenda, Monitoring and Evaluation
Article
South Sudan is Gearing Up for its First Election – 3 Things It Must Get Right
The Conversation, August 15, 2023
Article
Civil Military Relations and Sudan’s Treacherous Path to Democracy
Texas National Security Review Policy Roundtable, May 5, 2021
Paper
South Sudan Studies Association, February 2021
Spotlight
Reforming the Security Sector in Sudan: The Need for a Framework
Africa Center of Strategic Studies, November 2, 2020
Article
When Ethnic Diversity Becomes a Curse in Africa: The Tale of Two Sudans
Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, 2020
Article
South Sudan: The Elusive Quest for a Resilient Social Contract?
Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, July 2019
Article
The 2018 South Sudanese Peace Agreement: A Litmus Test of Coercive Mediation
The Zambakari Advisory: Special Issue, May 10, 2019
Article
The Internal—and External—Factors That Will Shape Sudan’s Political Transition
Mail & Guardian, April 25, 2019
Spotlight
Sudan’s Shifting Calculus of Power
L’arithmétique du pouvoir en mutation au SoudanAfrica Center for Strategic Studies, March 11, 2019
Paper
The Future of Disasters Studies: New Disasters and the Case of the Horn of Africa.
Disasters, January 20, 2019
Book Chapter
Federalism-Decentralization-Peace Nexus in South Sudan in The Struggle for South Sudan: Challenges of Security and State Formation
2019
Book Review
The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars: Old Wars and New Wars by Douglas Johnson
African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, Fall 2018
Op-Ed
Why the Initiatives of Dr Francis Deng in Khartoum Should be Applauded and Supported?
Radio Tamazuj, August 21, 2018
Article
Navigating the Competing Interests of Regional Actors in South Sudan
Les intérêts concurrents des acteurs régionaux au Soudan du Sud: Une explorationAfrica Center for Strategic Studies, May 29, 2018
Article
Three Trajectories Facing South Sudan
Trois trajectoires possibles pour le Soudan du SudAfrica Center for Strategic Studies, May 29, 2018
Working Paper
The Humanitarian-Development Nexus – What Do Evaluations Have to Say?
United Nations Evaluation Group, February 2018
Report
At the Root of Exodus: Food Security, Conflict, and International Migration
World Food Programme, May 2017
Chapter
“Dinka Youth in Civil War: Between Cattle, Community and Government” in Informal Armies: Community Defence Groups in South Sudan’s Civil War
Saferworld, February 2017
Article
States, Markets, and Society: The Roaring Last Fifty Years
IDS Bulletin, November 2016
Testimony
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, September 20, 2016
Testimony
South Sudan’s Prospects for Peace and Security
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, April 2016
Commentary
Are Ngok Dinka of Abyei South Sudanese?
Sudan Tribune, March 26, 2016
Report
The Impact of Conflict on the Livestock Sector in South Sudan
Food and Agriculture Organization, February 2016
Report
Education Sector Governance, Inequality, Conflict and Peacebuilding in South Sudan
UNICEF, February 2016
Article
Confronting Civil War: The Level of Resilience in Abyei Area during Sudan’s Civil War in the 1990s
Journal of Civil Wars, April 2015
Commentary
What Next after the Final South Sudan Peace Talks?
Sudan Tribune, March 8, 2015
Article
Political Violence and the Emergence of Dispute over Abyei, Sudan, 1950–1983
Journal of Eastern African Studies Special Issue, August 2014.
Op-Ed
South Sudan’s Conflict Could Spread across the Border
The Guardian, December 19, 2013
Commentary
Will Abyei Be a Dagger in South Sudan-Sudan Relations
Sudan Tribune, September 9, 2013
Commentary
Abyei Final Status: An Account of Indecision by the African Union
Sudan Tribune, July 1, 2013
Commentary
Abyei: A Test of African Solutions for African Problems
Sudan Tribune, June 30, 2013
Brief
Changing Livelihoods in South Sudan
ODI Humanitarian Practice Network, May 2013
Commentary
Humanitarian Rhetoric and the Fate of People of Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile
Sudan Tribune, February 2, 2013
Report
Confronting Civil War: The Case of Risk Management Strategies in South Sudan in the 1990s
Food and Agriculture Organization, September 2012
Commentary
After Meles: The Fate of South Sudan and Sudan Future Relations
Sudan Tribune, August 31, 2012
Commentary
The Garang I Knew: African Icon of Visionary Leadership
Sudan Tribune, July 19, 2012
Testimony
Southern Kordofan: Ethnic Cleansing and Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, August 2011
Op-Ed
Secession Could Create a Prosperous South Sudan
The Guardian, January 30, 2011
Article
Social Capital and Civil War: The Case of Dinka Communities in the Sudan’s Civil War
Journal of African Affairs, February 2010
Chapter
“Managing Diversity and Peace in the Post-conflict Sudan” in New Sudan in the Making: Essays on a Nation in Painful Search of Itself. Francis Deng, ed.
October 2009
Article
Livelihood Diversification and Civil War: The Case of Dinka Communities in the Sudan’s Civil War
Journal of Eastern African Studies, September 2009
Article
Justice in the Sudan: Will the Award of the International Abyei Arbitration Tribunal Be Honoured?
Oxford Journal of Eastern African Studies, September 2009
Article
Journal of Disasters, October 2008
Chapter
“Increased Rural Vulnerability in the Era of Globalization: Conflict and Famine in Sudan in the 1990s” in The New Famines: Why Famines Persist in an Era of Globalization. Stephen Devereux, ed.
November 2006
Article
The Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Will It Be Sustained?
Journal of Civil Wars, September 2005
Article
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Will It Also Be Dishonoured?
Forced Migration Review, 2005
Article
Journal of Civil Wars, September 2005
Article
Education in Southern Sudan: War, Status and Challenges of Achieving Education for All Goals
UNESCO, 2003
Article
The Sudan Famine of 1998: Unfolding of the Global Dimension
Institute of Development Studies, October 2002
Article
Institute of Development Studies, October 2002
Paper
Confronting Civil War: A Comparative Household Assets Management in Southern Sudan
Institute of Development Studies, January 2002
Paper
Institute of Development Studies, January 1999
Article
The Challenge for Rainfed Agriculture in Western and Southern Sudan: Lessons from Abyei
Africa Today, 2nd Quarter of 1981
National Security Strategy Development and Implementation
Élaboration et mise en application d’une stratégie de sécurité nationale
Desenvolvimento e Implementação de Estratégias de Segurança NacionaisAfrica Center for Strategic Studies, June 2023
Developing a National Security Strategy
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, June 21, 2019
Understanding the Underlying Drivers of Armed Conflict in South Sudan
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, May 1, 2019
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, September 17, 2018
Civil War Resolution in South Sudan
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, November 2017
National Security Strategy: Core Principles & Resource Management
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, October 2017
Africa’s External Security Partners
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, June 2017
Strengthening Security Institutions: Inter-Agency Collaboration
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, May 2017
National Security Strategy Lessons for Africa
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, May 2017
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, November 2016
Adapting National Security Strategies in Times of Change
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, November 2016
Security Sector Leadership Challenges
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, May 2016
The Situation in South Sudan: A Conversation with Luka Biong Deng
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, May 2016
War Crimes in Abyei: Why I Resigned from the Sudanese Cabinet
Global Summit against Discrimination and Persecution, September 22, 2011
Sudan and South Sudan’s Unfinished Business: Abyei and Southern Kordofan
Overseas Development Institute, August 12, 2011
Sudanese Perspectives on the 2011 Referendum
Peace Research Institute Oslo, October 13, 2010
Does a Better Decade Lie Ahead for South Sudan?
International Crisis Group, July 13, 2021
Africa Today, BBC, July 7, 2021
Outlook for Sudan’s New Government
Al Jazeera, August 21, 2019
South Sudan Peace Deal Crumbles, Will the Civil War End in the Near Future?
TRTWorld, July 3, 2018
Call to South Sudanese to Reject Khartoum Peace Deal
The East African, June 28, 2018
South Sudan Analysts Weigh in on Leaked AU Report
VOA, March 9, 2015
Personal Interests Impeding South Sudan Peace, Say Experts
Daily Sabah, December 19, 2014
Any Lessons from Operation Lifeline Sudan?
IRIN News, November 14, 2014
South Sudan’s Conflict Reflects Rivalry between President and His Former Deputy
The Washington Post, December 23, 2013
Tangled Web of South Sudan Politics Spells Bleak Future
BBC News, December 19, 2013
Abyei’s Dinka Vote to Join South Sudan
Al Jazeera, October 31, 2013
Luka Biong Deng: Aid Being Withheld in Abyei
VOA, February 12, 2013
Abyei Leader Condemns Sudan’s National Congress Party
VOA, March 3, 2011
VOA, March 23, 2010
Inside Story: Abyei’s Uncertain Future
Al Jazeera English, April 20, 2009