As the Trump Administration imposes an arms embargo on South Sudan, it’s worth reflecting on just what went wrong in the world’s newest state—and whether any other outcome was possible in the first place.

South Sudan was never stable. It was never on a trajectory toward becoming a normal Westphalian state, no matter what foreign observers hoped and wished.

Somalia’s informal banking system is one of the only coherent institutions in the country—so why is U.S. policy undermining it?