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State collapse in Somalia: second thoughts

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  • Ken Menkhaus

Abstract

Somalia's protracted crisis of complete state collapse is unprecedented and has defied easy explanation. Disaggregating the Somali debacle into three distinct crises - collapse of central government, protracted armed conflict, and lawlessness - helps to produce more nuanced analysis. Significant changes have occurred in the nature and intensity of conflict and lawlessness in Somalia since the early 1990s, with conflicts becoming more localized and less bloody, and criminality more constrained by customary law and private security forces. These trends are linked to changing interests on the part of the political and economic elite, who now profit less from war and banditry and more from commerce and service business that require a predictable operating environment. The prolonged collapse of Somalia's central government cannot be explained as a reflection of local interests. The country's elite would profit greatly from the revival of a recognized but ineffective 'paper' state. The inability of Somalia's leaders to cobble together such a state is best explained as a product of risk aversion. Political and economic actors in collapsed states fear a change in the operating environment which, though far from ideal, is one in which they have learned to survive and profit.

Suggested Citation

  • Ken Menkhaus, 2003. "State collapse in Somalia: second thoughts," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(97), pages 405-422, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:revape:v:30:y:2003:i:97:p:405-422
    DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2003.9659774
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ibrahim Farah & Sekou Toure, 2017. "Engineering Peace in Somalia: A Call for a Re-examination of the Somali Peace Processes," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 60(3), pages 183-189, December.
    2. Mohamed Aden Sharmake & Khawar Sultan & Qamar uz Zaman & Roeya Rehman & Afzal Hussain, 2022. "Decadal Impacts of Climate Change on Rainfed Agriculture Community in Western Somaliland, Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Brennan M. Kraxberger, 2012. "Rethinking responses to state failure, with special reference to Africa," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 12(2-3), pages 99-111, July.
    4. Christian Schubert & Leonhard K. Lades, 2014. "Fighting maritime piracy: three lessons from pompeius magnus," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 481-497, October.
    5. Daniel D. Bonneau & Joshua C. Hall & Yang Zhou, 2022. "Institutional implant and economic stagnation: a counterfactual study of Somalia," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 190(3), pages 483-503, March.
    6. Powell, Benjamin & Ford, Ryan & Nowrasteh, Alex, 2008. "Somalia after state collapse: Chaos or improvement?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(3-4), pages 657-670, September.
    7. Singh, C. & Bedi, A.S., 2012. "‘War on piracy’: the conflation of Somali piracy with terrorism in discourse, tactic and law," ISS Working Papers - General Series 543, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    8. Ghassan Dibeh, 2008. "Resources and the Political Economy of State Fragility in Conflict States: Iraq and Somalia," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-35, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Tobias Hagmann & Markus V. Hoehne, 2009. "Failures of the state failure debate: Evidence from the Somali territories," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 42-57.

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