South Sudan's 2011 independence from Sudan aimed to end decades of civil war, but internal conflicts over power and resources led to renewed war in 2013 and a fragile 2018 peace agreement with repeated delays. An economic historian argues that peace settlements have not dismantled the country's coercive revenue systems but have instead formalized them, creating a "predatory peace" where violence shifts from battlefields to extraction mechanisms like checkpoints and taxes. The political elite profit from controlling revenue streams such as oil, customs, and aid, making the state a lucrative prize worth fighting for. This system, described by a businessman as "organized robbery," persists because confusion and overlapping authorities prevent accountability. The article concludes that genuine peace requires transparent, civilian-controlled revenue systems and linking payments to public goods, supported by external conditionality and civic monitoring.