Brian J. Hesse

Lessons in successful Somali governance

‘Somalia’ is often portrayed as the quintessential ungovernable, failed state – with pirates, terrorists and humanitarian crises as a consequence. This article tells how Somalis in Somaliland and Puntland today have realised a degree of successful governance in the Horn of Africa.

Introduction: The myth of ‘Somalia’

Abstract A myth can either be a false belief or an idealised conception. This introduction demonstrates why ‘Somalia’ is both.

Where Somalia works

Abstract Somalia is not entirely dysfunctional. Indeed, select parts of the Somali economic, social and political landscape work quite well. Ironically, where the country works best also reflects some of what is most wrong.

Celebrate or hold suspect? Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in Africa

When US President Bill Clinton was sworn into office in January 1993, there were already 25 400 US forces on the ground in Somalia. The forces had been ordered into that country by Clintons predec...

Two Generations, Two Interventions in One of the World’s Most-Failed States: The United States, Kenya and Ethiopia in Somalia

In 1992, more than 25,000 United States forces landed in Somalia as part of a 37,000-strong United Nations Task Force (UNITAF) operation. In 2011, a combined total of 8000+ Kenyan and Ethiopian forces were ordered into Somalia. This article demonstrates that American soldiers were deployed to Somalia in the early days of a post-Cold War world, largely as a foreign policy experiment about how to deal with the threats ‘small states’ posed in a new world order. It is maintained that Kenyan and Ethiopian soldiers were deployed to Somalia to deal with some of the very threats American foreign policymakers had identified almost two decades earlier, from refugees to terrorism. To conclude, the article uses public goods theory to contend that military interventions that are ostensibly peacekeeping in nature can be inherently inadequate because ‘self-interest works against the interests of the collective’ (Bobrow and Boyer, 1997: 726). Accordingly, America’s intervention in Somalia between 1992 and 1994 failed to remedy adequately the circumstances and concerns which spawned the perceived need for Kenyan and Ethiopian forces to intervene in Somalia a generation later, in 2011. Unfortunately for Kenyan and Ethiopian soldiers, Somalia’s politicians and political processes might relegate them to realizing little more success than their American predecessors.

Why Deploy to Somalia? Understanding Six African Countries’ Reasons for Sending Soldiers to One of the World’s Most Failed States

In 2007, African Union soldiers deployed to Somalia with the blessing of the United Nations Security Council, ostensibly on a peacekeeping mission. Today, six African countries have a combined total of approximately 21,564 combat troops on the ground as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). These soldiers have paid a heavy price. Since AMISOM military forces first arrived in Somalia, perhaps as many as 3,000 have been killed there—a number approaching the 3,096 peacekeepers killed in all United Nations peacekeeping operations between 1948 and 2013. But why have six African countries sent soldiers to one of the world’s most failed states? Select international relations concepts and theories help provide answers. Nearly all point to less-than-selfless reasons. This article concludes that all six African countries have accrued, or are looking to accrue, self-serving benefits through their military participation in AMISOM.

The Peugeot and the Baobab: Islam, Structural Adjustment and Liberalism in Senegal

I was shocked the first time I saw Osama Bin Laden on the back of a Dakar minibus. Yet, in the days to come in April 2002, it would become commonplace for me to see him – or more specifically, his bearded, white-clad image. One minibus company, it seemed, was fond of decorating its vehicles with Bin Laden stickers and posters. Needless to say, as an American in the West African country of Senegal, a country of 10 million on the westernmost bulge of the African continent, a country where more than 90 per cent of the population happened to be Muslim, this reality evoked in me very strong emotions.