PERSPECTIVE| FES NEW YORK Fools Rush In Where Angels Fear To Tread Challenges for South Sudan and the International Community ANGUS CLARKSON November 2011  There are multiple components of state building that are often in competition with one another. This competition creates contradictory dynamics for the Government of South Sudan and the international community.  State building is principally a political process and its challenges in this context are vastly complex. The concerns and needs of the Government of South Sudan are much broader than a narrow blueprint for the technical requirements of state building in the abstract.  International engagement in South Sudan faces a paradox in that constructive engagement can yield the positive outcomes it seeks only in the long-term, whereas rushed or ill-conceived engagement can do harm in the short-term.  The most meaningful international engagement will appreciate the security dilemmas, political pressures, and realistic timelines that South Sudan faces and allow these to inform the nature of their partnership and content of their policies toward the new state.