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  • Statebuilding in Somaliland
  • Mohamed Haji Ingiriis
Rebecca Richards. Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland. London: Routledge, 2014. 220 pp. Index. US$59.95 (paperback). ISBN 9781472425898.
John Rabuogi Ahere. The Paradox That Is Diplomatic Recognition: Unpacking the Somaliland Situation. Hamburg, Germany: Anchor Academic Publishing, 2013. 83pp. US$51.99. ISBN 9783954890538.

Somaliland, which unilaterally claimed secession from the rest of Somalia in 1991, continues to attract a load of uneven research studies, both "grey" and academic literature, produced by academics and analysts. Most of those researching the breakaway entity have tended to romanticize the relatively peaceful bottom-up state-building project in that northern part of Somalia in contrast with the southern part of the country where top-down state-building has been pursued for a long time by and between both endogenous (internal) and exogenous (external) actors. With its bottom-up approach at peacebuilding, Somaliland has become successful in terms of political settlement that combined traditional indigenous systems and modern elements of governance—that is, the clan tradition and the modern state system.

These two books deal with related issues to explain the state-building in Somaliland and the problem of achieving diplomatic recognition. In blending theoretical literature with empirical data, Rebecca Richards, in Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland, reexamines critically state formation in Somaliland. Richards contends that the current state-building projects in Somalia, which have been influenced and imposed on local communities by external actors, will not be successful. She especially critiques [End Page 124] the Western idealization of a top-down state system, revealing how strikingly this was not successful. She particularly identifies unique ways in which Somaliland has become quite fundamentally contrasted with the illiberal state-building projects elsewhere in the world. Her suggestion is that state-building should be based on internal rather than external desire.

Consisting of eight chapters, including the introduction and the conclusion, chapter 1 assesses norms, ideals, and modern state-building projects, distinguishing what is ideal from what is not ideal. Chapter 2 discusses the importance of legitimacy in state-building and the notion of the "built state." Chapter 3 is a very interesting analysis of the interplay between clan, governance, and the build-up to breakdown stages of the modern state system. Chapter 5 explores the development of the breakaway state system of Somaliland, and chapter 6 examines how traditional institutions were institutionalized through various stages of negotiation and renegotiation. Finally, chapter 7 describes the contemporary situation in Somaliland, suggesting that the entity is now "at the crossroads," an indication of how post-conflict states are invariably prone to conflicts.

To answer this phenomenon and nuance the dynamics of the state-building trajectory, Richards allows her informants to formally express themselves, unlike some academics who impinge on their informants to back a particular position. It seems that Richards would have preferred to see Somaliland accept the UN's offer of assistance in the state-building project early on, something that leaders in Hargeysa had refused in 1993, but the question remains how far this could have contributed to the armed conflict that subsequently emerged after the Borame conference. Although Somaliland might or might not have positively gained from external assistance on its trajectory to state-building, the fact that it averted an externally imposed "Bob the Builder" mentality of "we are capable of fixing the failed state" led it to succeed internally, even when the precedents for a strong state institution were practically absent.

Sharp in historical analysis and rich in contemporary conditions, Richards's book is significant and timely. Her fieldwork in Somaliland, during which she interviewed rulers and ruled, put her in a good position to present her arguments in a very nuanced way. There is no doubt that scholars of state-building in Africa will be indebted to Richards for her deep theoretical explanation on the interplay between different dynamics surrounding the making and remaking of the states and their institutions, both internal and external, highlighting how the clan system remains an important component of—rather than opponent [End Page 125] to—the state. Despite several editorial slips, the book is well-written. To mention a few...

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