State-Making in Somalia and Somaliland
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The London School of Economics and Political Science STATE -MAKING IN SOMALIA AND SOMALILAND Understanding War, Nationalism and State Trajectories as Processes of Institutional and Socio-Cognitive Standardization Mogadishu ● Dominik Balthasar A thesis submitted to the Department of International Development of the London School of Economics (LSE) for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2012 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 105,510. I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Sue Redgrave. Cover illustration: Map source, URL: http://tinyurl.com/97ao5ug, accessed, 15 September 2012, adapted by the author. 2 Abstract Although the conundrums of why states falter, how they are reconstituted, and under what conditions war may be constitutive of state-making have received much scholarly attention, they are still hotly debated by academics and policy analysts. Advancing a novel conceptual framework and analysing diverse Somali state trajectories between 1960 and 2010, this thesis adds to those debates both theoretically and empirically. The core issues examined are why and how Somaliland managed to establish state-run structures of governance, how far its development paralleled or diverged from past Somali state trajectories, and under what conditions violent conflict advanced or abridged the polities’ varied state-making projects. Drawing on diverse strands of literature on state-building, nationalism and warfare, the thesis develops an original analytical frame to better understand processes of state-making and state-breaking. It argues not only for the need of ‘bringing the nation back in’, but proposes to conceptualize state trajectories in terms of changing levels of institutional and socio-cognitive standardization. Scrutinizing received wisdom, the empirical research presented finds, amongst others, that Somali state trajectories have been less unique than commonly claimed, and proposes that Somaliland’s alleged state-making success between 1991 and 2010 hinged at least as much on autocratic governance, top-down policies and coercive means as on frequently emphasized elements of grassroots peace-making, ‘traditional’ reconciliation and ‘home-grown’ democracy. Conceptually, the project is located at the intersection of political-economy and historical and institutional approaches to state-making. Applying qualitative research framed in comparative case studies the thesis not only advances the theoretical debate surrounding issues of state fragility and state-making, but also offers novel insights into Somalia’s history and presents new empirical findings on the frequently romanticised case of Somaliland. Yet, the research results are significant beyond Somali boundaries as they provide relevant insights for our general understanding of state trajectories and the role of conflict in state- making and state-breaking. 3 Table of Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................ 8 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ 13 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 15 1.1 Presenting the Research Project ................................................................... 17 The Iterative Process ...................................................................................................17 Three Central Propositions ........................................................................................19 1.2 Putting the Thesis into Context .................................................................... 21 The Literature on State-Building… ...........................................................................21 … Nation-Building… ..................................................................................................25 …Warfare… .................................................................................................................26 … and the Scholarship on Somalia and Somaliland ...............................................28 1.3 Research Methodology ................................................................................. 31 Qualitative Case Study Method..................................................................................31 Selection of Case Studies ............................................................................................33 Main Research Tools ...................................................................................................35 Challenges in Collecting and Assessing Oral Materials ..........................................36 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation .................................................................. 41 2 STATE -MAKING AS REGIME STANDARDIZATION .................................. 45 2.1 States and Institutions, Nations and Socio-Cognitive Systems.................... 47 The State… ...................................................................................................................47 … and the Framework of Institutions ......................................................................49 The Nation… ...............................................................................................................51 … and the Framework of Socio-Cognitive Systems ..............................................52 2.2 The Regime Prism ........................................................................................ 54 ‘Socio-Cognitive Institutions’? ...................................................................................54 Understanding Regimes… ..........................................................................................55 … and Reconceptualising the State and the Nation ...............................................57 2.3 State-Making as Regime Standardization .................................................... 60 On the Approach… .....................................................................................................60 … and Its Benefits .......................................................................................................62 From Fragility to Resilience ........................................................................................64 2.4 Elites, Crises, and Warfare ............................................................................ 66 The Role of Elites ........................................................................................................66 State-Making as Crisis-Prone Undertaking ..............................................................69 Warfare: An Independent Variable? ..........................................................................70 2.5 On Administration and Indicators of Standardization ................................. 74 Administration ..............................................................................................................74 Security, Taxation, and Communication ..................................................................77 2.6 Interim Conclusion ....................................................................................... 79 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 STATE -MAKING TRAJECTORIES IN SOMALIA ........................................ 81 3.1 The Pre-Independence Era: ‘Nation in Search of a State’? .......................... 84 Unification as Expression of Nationalism?..............................................................85 Unification as Rational Strategy .................................................................................88 Somalia at Independence: Marked by Regime Plurality .........................................91 3.2 From Independence to Incapacitation: The State Trajectory of the 1960s .. 92 The Persistence of Legal Plurality .............................................................................93 Taking Linguistic Fragmentation Lightly .................................................................95 The Challenge of Administrative Plurality ...............................................................96 Between Elite Competition and Elite Bargain.........................................................98 A State Marked by Regime Plurality....................................................................... 100 3.3 From Demise to Resurrection: Somalia’s Trajectory of the 1970s ............... 101 Streamlining the Administration ............................................................................. 103 Boosting Control and Coercion .............................................................................. 105 Confronting Clannism .............................................................................................