This perspective piece argues that the persistent fragility of peace in South Sudan stems from a fundamental misalignment between the formal architecture of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and the entrenched political economy of the state. It contends that elite bargains, centred on resource access and militarised patronage, have co-opted the peace process, rendering key provisions on security sector reform, transitional justice, and constitution-making largely inert. The analysis moves beyond technical implementation failures to examine how the logic of competitive kleptocracy undermines institutional transformation. The conclusion posits that sustainable peace requires a recalibration of international engagement to directly address these systemic drivers of conflict, rather than merely managing their symptoms.