Power-sharing arrangements have become the primary method for ending protracted multi-ethnic conflicts. However, once implemented negotiated agreements have rarely been successful at maintaining stability. A comparison of the 1972 Addis Ababa Settlement with the current negotiations between Sudan’s People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south and the regime in Khartoum reveals the potential for sustaining institutions that lead development and stability. The institutional arrangements or the ruling bargain that is structured at settlement reflects the level of elite conflict. This leaves the sustainability of social order a product of cohesion among state and societal elites. And in Sudan, the process of state building and economic development has been undermined by the collapse of the settlement coalition. This paper considers why power-sharing agreements have failed in Sudan and proposes that extensively institutionalized guarantees provide the basis for sustained stability.