This qualitative study examines the protracted implementation of South Sudan's 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS). It argues that the formal peace process has been consistently subverted by a political economy of conflict predicated on elite resource bargaining, which in turn has generated significant local-level resistance and alternative peacemaking practices. Drawing on in-depth interviews and document analysis, the research traces how power-sharing and security arrangements have been instrumentalised to maintain patronage networks rather than to foster genuine transformation. The findings reveal a critical disjuncture between the national-level political theatre of peace and the community-driven mechanisms for stability that operate in its shadow, challenging conventional state-centric approaches to peacebuilding in African Studies.