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Hybridity, Local Ordering and the New Governing Rationalities of Peace and Security Interventions in Somalia

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Hybridity, Local Ordering and the New Governing Rationalities of Peace and Security Interventions in Somalia The ‘Turn to the Local’: Hybridity, local ordering and the new governing rationalities of peace and security interventions in Somalia Louise Wiuff Moe A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2014 School of Political Science and International Studies ii Abstract This thesis explores the potential and the limits of the ‘turn to the local’ in approaches to promote more inclusive forms of order and peace in conflict and post-conflict settings. As a consequence of the apparent limitations of liberal peace approaches that inform international peace and security interventions, recent discursive and practical shifts indicate a move away from imported institution-building and toward working through and upon local societal dynamics and so- called non-state actors. Thereby, logics of hybridity, non-linearity and resilience are incorporated into new governing rationalities of intervention policies. As a result, the concepts of ‘hybrid political orders’, ‘the everyday’ and ‘hybrid peace’- which were introduced into the debate as critiques of the liberal peace and state fragility discourses - no longer stand in univocal critical opposition to the liberal peacebuilding discourse. Rather, in the context of the ‘turn to the local’, hybridity is now both a concept informing critical peace and conflict analysis and a new terrain for policy discourse which opens up ‘the local’ as a key domain for intervention. This thesis examines how the ‘turn to the local’ and the associated approaches to hybrid governance work and are legitimized. It explores the agendas that underpin these emerging shifts and the accompanying dynamics and effects within local settings. This is explored through case study research focusing on the context of Somalia in which top-down approaches have consistently failed, while sub-national and local actors and institutions have demonstrated a remarkable capacity to craft alternative governance arrangements. International actors have shown increasing interest in engaging local actors and governance arrangements. Somalia is thereby not only an exemplary case with regards to failures of intervention, but is also at the forefront of the less explored rise of localized governance arrangements and the employment and testing of new intervention approaches that work upon and through governance beyond the state. The first case study chapter focuses on local internal approaches in response to violent state collapse beyond conventional statebuilding. The analysis substantiates and elaborates central themes of the ‘hybrid political orders’/’hybrid forms of peace’ literature. The subsequent case study chapters explore what happens when ‘the local’ and notions of hybridity and the everyday are incorporated into intervention rationales. Each case study chapter analyzes a particular aspect of peace and security interventions in the context of the ‘turn to the local’, namely governance, iii security/justice and counterinsurgency. Taken together, the analysis covers central dimensions of the ‘turn to the local’ as well as different geographical contexts (Somaliland, Puntland and South regions) in Somalia. The findings demonstrate that while decentered and hybrid governance approaches in the context of internal reconstruction have yielded peaceful outcomes, and while the ‘turn to the local’ may open avenues for external engagement that builds on rather than contains or ignores existing practices, emerging policy discourses centering on ‘the local’ also signify new ways of legitimating social engineering informed by liberal peace thinking. Moreover, adding a security-specific angle to the question of hybrid governance, the thesis demonstrates how the ‘turn to the local’ involves new trajectories of counterinsurgent warfare through which military force is injected into the fabric of local communities. The thesis thereby highlights the importance of acknowledging and critically examining the specific geopolitical and policy contexts in which the terms of the debate on ‘hybridity’ and ‘bottom up’ concepts circulate, as well as the different agendas such proposals become entwined with. Through case study analysis it reappraises central aspects of the ways in which peace and security interventions and hybridity, non-state governance and local forms of peace are currently debated and represented. Moreover, whereas scholars have pointed to problems of holding local ‘non state’ actors accountable, the thesis draws specific attention to challenges related to holding international interveners accountable. Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. iv I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the General Award Rules of The University of Queensland, immediately made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. v Publications during the candidature Peer reviewed articles Moe, L. Wiuff & P. Albrecht. ‘The Simultaneity of Authority in Hybrid Order’, in Peacebuilding (online first DOI: 10.1080/21647259.2014.928551), published online: 30 June 2014 (17 pages). Moe, L. Wiuff & M. Vargas Simojoki.‘Custom, contestation and co-operation: peace and justice promotion in Somaliland’, (co-authored with Maria Vargas Simojoki) in Conflict, Security & Development 13(4) (2013): 393-416. Moe, L. Wiuff. ‘Hybrid and ‘Everyday’ Political Ordering: Constructing and Contesting Legitimacy in Somaliland’, in Journal of Legal Pluralism 63 (2011): 143-178. Book chapters Moe, L. Wiuff. ‘Towards New Approaches to Statehood and Governance in Africa: the Somali Crisis Reconsidered’, in Cornelissen, S., Cheru, F.& Shaw, T. (Eds.), Africa and International Relations in the Twenty-First Century: Still Challenging Theory? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012): 87-105. Moe, L. Wiuff. ‘The Role of Traditional Authorities in State and Governance Building in Somaliland’, in Dijkema, C., K. Gatelier, I. Samson & J. Tercinet (eds), Rethinking the foundations of the state, an analysis of post-crisis situations (Brussels: Bruylant. 2011): 167-180. Online articles and reports Moe, L. Wiuff. ‘Relationality and Pragmatism in Peacebuilding: Reflections on Somaliland’, in Chadwick, W., Debiel, T. & Gadinger, F. (eds.). 2013. Relational Sensibility and the Turn to the Local: Prospects for the Future of Peacebuilding, Global Dialogues 2, (Center for Global Cooperation Research, 2013): 44-54. Moe, L. Wiuff. ‘Addressing legitimacy issues in fragile post-conflict situations to advance conflict transformation and peace-building: Somaliland Report’, for the project Addressing legitimacy issues in fragile post-conflict situations to advance conflict transformation and peacebuilding (University of Queensland, funded by the Berghof Foundation 2013a). vi Publications included in this thesis Chapter four of the thesis builds on material in the report for University of Queensland and the Berghof Foundation (Moe 2013a) and sections of my article in Journal of Legal Pluralism (Moe 2011). I am the sole author and contributor in both the publication for the University of Queensland/the Berghof Foundation (Moe 2013a) and the article in Journal of Legal Pluralism (Moe 2011). The material has been substantially revised and elaborated in the chapter four in this thesis. Chapter six of the thesis draws on material from the article in Global Dialogues (Moe 2013), of which I am the sole author and contributor. It also draws on material from the article in Conflict, Security & Development (Moe & Simojoki 2013), to which both I and Maria Vargas Simojoki have contributed. This material has been substantially revised for the chapter six in this thesis. Maria Vargas Simojoki is in agreement with my use of interview data and material from the article, and in the published article in Conflict, Security & Development (Moe & Simojoki 2013) it is explicitly acknowledged that the analysis is part of research for my PhD thesis. Tables spelling out contribution for each publication: Moe, L. Wiuff. ‘Addressing legitimacy issues in fragile post-conflict situations to advance conflict transformation and peace-building: Somaliland Report’, for the project Addressing legitimacy issues in fragile post-conflict situations to advance conflict transformation and peacebuilding, (University of Queensland, funded by the Berghof Foundation
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