Factors of state failure in Somalia: 1991-2007

Abstract

This study examines the factors of state failure in Somalia between 1991-2007. The main question probed in this study is what were the factors that led to the failure of the Somali State? The study hypothesizes that state failure in Somalia is strongly associated with the interplay of the internal structural factors of nation building, political organisation, and governance and external geopolitics of power and regional rivalries. The internal factors included leadership failure which personalized the state resources and power, the militarisation of the state, warlordism and civil war. The internal failure was exacerbated by economic failure and corruption which ended in the looting of the state resources. The external factors included Somali superpowers game and the regional intervention from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Kenya which supported different Somali actors to achieve their own interests. The war on terror and piracy activity made the Somali State vulnerable to more intervention, and divisions among the Somalis. The root problem of the failure of the Somali State was the colonial rule which divided the Somali people into different states. When it became independent, Somalia’s main agenda was the reunification of the Somali people into the Greater Somalia. The study recommends that the Somali reconciliation should be inclusive of all internal actors, and supported by international players.