Markus Virgil Hoehne

Limits of hybrid political orders: the case of Somaliland

Abstract Hybrid political orders are in the literature discussed as a heuristic tool to understand how power and legitimacy are negotiated in settings where the Western model of the liberal democratic state does not work. Sometimes they are presented as an alternative model for successful statehood, e.g., by combining ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ political institutions. The Republic of Somaliland is frequently presented as functioning hybrid political order. A cornerstone for Somalilands success was the integration of traditional authorities in government. These authorities engaged in peace-building and state formation in the early 1990s. Their role was institutionalized in the ‘House of Elders’, the upper house of parliament. This article argues that the hybrid political order of Somaliland has outlived its success. What is left at the beginning of the 21st century is an imbalanced and in many regards ‘crippled’ hybrid. It threatens democratic progress and undermines the authority and legitimacy of the state institutions as well as the leading traditional authorities in the region. These developments in Somaliland show the limits of hybrid political systems in general.

The impact of civil war and state collapse on the roles of Somali women: a blessing in disguise

Abstract Somali society can be characterized as patriarchal ‘to the bone’. Despite tremendous political and economic changes in the 20th century, and from colonial to post-colonial rule, the situation of women changed only minimally. In fact, some authors argue that women enjoyed even less independence from male ‘wards’ during the democratic and later revolutionary governments from 1960 to 1991 that were promulgating modernization and gender equality, at least rhetorically. Paradoxically, the most substantial changes regarding gender relations that led to a considerable empowerment of women in the social, economic and political sphere were triggered by the tragedy of civil war and state collapse. Women had to bear the brunt of the fighting. But they also became actively involved in armed conflict as combatants, motivators of their men and also as peace-makers. Women also took over more economic responsibilities and fought their way into politics. This article traces the challenges and opportunities that the civil war and the collapse of the state provided for women, arguing that the Somali tragedy provided a blessing in disguise at least for some women who gained social, economic and political power. Still, what we are observing is not a revolution but at best an incidental ‘reform’. If this will eventually lead to more just gender relations in the long run remains to be seen.

Continuities and changes regarding minorities in Somalia

Somali society has long since been considered ethnically homogenous. The better known pastoral-nomadic section of society was perceived as representative. Politics and economy throughout the twentieth century were controlled by ‘majority’ clan members. ‘Minority group’ members were generally marginalized and sometimes even oppressed and exploited; during the civil war from 1991 onwards, they became easy victims for majority group militias. Previously respected religious or occupational ‘castes’ also fell victim to the general insecurity and lawlessness during that period. The civil war not only had enormous negative consequences for minority group members; in some cases, it increased the self-consciousness of minority groups and led to the formation of new identities that, in combination with international organizations and their human rights policies, provided members of certain groups with chances for resettlement or made them actively demand more rights.

Resource conflict and militant Islamism in the Golis Mountains in northern Somalia (2006–2013)

The conflict around Galgala, a small town in the Golis Mountains west of Bosaso in northern Somalia, poses the government of Puntland against clan militias and militant Islamists. The conflict was originally over natural resources, but soon turned into a conflict related to the ‘global war on terrorism’. It is additionally complicated due to its location in the contested borderlands between Somaliland and Puntland. The article analyses the effects of these dynamics on the local population and, more generally, on stability and peace in the region. It argues that sustainable solutions to the ongoing conflict can only be found if one takes into account the legitimate claims of the Warsangeli, the clan to which the local mountain dwellers belong, regarding the protection of their land and their resources. The anti-terrorism discourse that is currently foregrounded, mainly by the government of Puntland and its allies including the USA, is likely to inhibit the understanding of issues at stake.

Centering Borders and Borderlands: The Evidence from Africa

Borders in Africa have generally been conceived as barriers, but they also provide what Nugent and Asiwaju (1996) call “conduits and opportunities”. The academic discourse on state borders in the continent is largely focused on the constraints side. The main topics of the literature on African borders and borderlands are conflicts over borders, marginalization of the people living along the borders, informal cross-border economies such as smuggling and the disregard of the local population for the “artificial” and often ill-administered borders.1 A second body of (not necessarily Africa-related) literature perceives borders as limiting economic and other exchanges, or, to the contrary, argues that borders are frequently irrelevant when looking at transnational and global processes of exchange and identity formation.2 Studies of transnationalism and globalization emphasize the diminishing importance of territoriality and, consequently, posit the detachment of culture, politics and economy from any fixed borders.3 Borders and borderlands feature, if at all, as zones of displacement and deterritorialization.4 Achille Mbembe5 drew attention to recent dynamics in contemporary Africa related to conflicts within and between states and/or the exploitation of natural resources such as oil and diamonds through external actors, which transcend the focus on the state as clear-cut unit, defined by its borders.

Against the Grain: Somaliland’s Secession from Somalia

Secessionism is frequently understood through a cost-benefit analysis. The case of Somaliland, however, does not allow for such computations. Somaliland seceded from collapsing Somalia in 1991 without careful planning, disconnecting one of the most resource-scarce areas from an already poor country. No external backers supported this secessionist entity, except a few diaspora activists. Somaliland received some positive attention from the international community only 12 years later. This was partly withdrawn again after the establishment of a new Somali government in Mogadishu in 2012. The country continues to exist as a de facto state, functioning in all important ways like a state but lacking international recognition. This chapter analyzes which factors have led to this rare case of successful—if unrecognized—secession in Africa, against the grain.

From Identification to Framing and Alignment: A New Approach to the Comparative Analysis of Collective Identities

We present a comprehensive framework for the comparative analysis of collective identities and corresponding processes of identification, framing, and alignment. Collective identities are defined as activated categories of likeness, distinction, and solidarity, located within any one of a number of possible frames (e.g., nationality, religion, and gender) and aligned series (e.g., national, regional, or local categories of identification). Emphasis falls on the dynamics of identification, framing, and alignment within limits that are cognitive or semantic, on one hand, and social, economic, political, or legal, on the other. Specifying the limits within which identification, framing, and alignment may vary allows us to elide sterile debates about whether collective identities are invariable or variable and to focus instead on variation in the relative frequency, typical duration, and degree of ease or difficulty of acts of identification corresponding to distinguishable types. Such dynamics are examined with reference to codeterminants of identification: situations, circumstances, and actors’ motives. In conclusion, we reflect on the qualitative and quantitative consequences of variable forms of identification in collective action. Multiple examples illustrate the utility of the framework for comparative analysis.

Shaul Shay, Somalia between Jihad and restoration. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, and London, 2008. pp. 204

Connecting low-income minority people to jobs would obviously be the best way to deal with many of the problems they face. Yet, the subject has received remarkably little systematic attention as writers and foundations alike focus on housing, culture, and organizational activities, all of which may improve the quality of the lives of the poor, but do little to help them move out of poverty. Foundations produce a vast array of “community building” or “community development initiatives” in which, surprisingly, jobs play a remarkably small role. What a pleasure then to review this remarkable collection of papers, which, taken together, adds to existing knowledge about the jobs problem. The book is divided by section into “The Context,” “Labor Market Development,” “Business Development,” and “Complementary Strategies.” Reviewing a collection like this is difficult because of its multifarious and episodic nature. Instead, I will focus on a few points and papers that were of particular interest to me. It should be emphasized, however, that those chapters not discussed are also of high quality. Evelyn Blumenberg, one of the context setters, brings fresh data to the problems of jobs and spatial mismatch. Her focus on issues of immigration and the growth of the service economy breaks new ground. Furthermore, her argument—that urban sprawl and gentrification produce job benefits—is refreshing. Michael Stoll’s subsequent discussion of workforce development pulls together an enormous amount of information on programs that focus on place, such as enterprise zones and those that focus on people, such as job training and job placement programs. Reports on the effectiveness of these programs are sobering, and Stoll makes the important point that the macroeconomic policy that helped produce the prosperity of the late 1990s was more successful in reducing minority joblessness than any of the specific programs he describes. There are signs, however, that some programs work better than others, such as training programs that include prospective employers in the process. The chapters on business development are quite comprehensive. However, I missed any discussion of the use of credit or finance to encourage the growth and development of minority-owned small business (see my 2004 book, Doing Development in Arkansas: Using Credit to Create Opportunity for Entrepreneurs Outside the Mainstream) or microlending for microenterprises. Immigration also gets a great deal of attention. The situations of Asians (and the authors recognize different Asian nationalities or ethnicities), Latinos, and Native Americans are fully discussed. The chapter on Indian gaming by the editors of this volume is a careful exploration of activities in a particular locale, in this case the state of New Mexico. They demonstrate that gambling establishments really do increase tribal wealth, and that those establishments close to cities do especially well. Ong and Loukaitou-Sideis are quite circumspect in discussing the consequences for dealing with traditional Indian problems, such as depression and alcoholism,