State and Clan Violence in Somalia

The existing academic literature on the Somali conflict confounds state violence with clan violence. The thin line between the two forms of violence has perplexed—if not puzzled—pundits and political scientists studying the Somali state and society. This reflection raises two sets of questions: does state violence have a more distinctive character (in)visibility than clan violence? If so, what are the causes and consequences of these separate wars? This paper interrogates the persistent violence and the connections between state and clan violence. To fill this gap, the article offers a detailed discussion of Somali violence by arguing that state violence in the 1970s and 1980s created conditions for clan violence in the 1990s. In doing so, the article makes a clear conceptual distinction between state and clan violence. State violence carried out on a clan level, but instigated by state authorities, constituted a constant feature of the state during the era of the military regime of General Mohamed Siad Barre (1969–91).