Federal Governance System between the Purpose of Unity and Fear of Disintegration: A Case Study Somalia

After twenty-one years of military dictatorship, the central government of Somalia collapsed in 1991. The country witnessed severe civil war and led to human suffering. After years of tremendous efforts, the Somali political stakeholders with the support of the international community succeeded to establish a federal government. However, since the adaptation of the federal system in 2004, very little have been achieved in the federalization of the country. This is because of the widespread misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the federal system.. The misunderstanding stems from the strangeness of the system in Somalia, where since the independence Somalis have been familiar with a unitary central government. Sixteen years since the system is officially embraced, the federal constitution is not finished and very significance issues for federation are yet to be agreed upon. This has created continuous conflict and power struggle. For theoretical contribution, this study applied the basic concepts and components of Malcom M. Feeley and Edward Rubin’s theory of “Federal Theory: The political identity and Tragic Compromise†to the Somalia case. The study examined the politicized clan identity and the relative geographical distribution of clans and how these factors compelled to a federal system after the breakout of the civil war.