Annotated Bibliography for Somalia

1. Lewis, I.M. A Modern History of Somalia: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa.

London: Longmans, 1980.

The author of this general history of Somalia is a well known social anthropologist professor I. M.

Lewis, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics. Lewis has been studying

Somalia since 1950 when he undertook his graduate research work in 1950s. History in this book

is based on oral history as well documentary sources. Up until now, the author has been

continuously observing and gathering empirical data on Somalia to be able to updates his classical

historical work. Critic of Lewis mainly argues against his almost biblical adherence to primordial

lineage perspective in explaining Somali history and politics and the causes of the collapse of the

state. Nevertheless, it could be said with great conviction that no earnest researcher or student of

Somalia can bypass Lewis in his academic endeavour and particularly his historical background.

He is the founder of modern Somali studies and authority; and contributed immensely in the

Somali scholarship.

2. Latin, David D. and Samatar, Said. Somalia: Nation in Search of a State. Boulder:

Westview Press, 1987.

David Laitin, professor of political science at the University of California, and Said S. Samatar,

professor of history at Rutgers University examine the important events, themes, and influences of

the past in order to explain the complexities of the politics, society, culture and economy of

Somalia in the 1980s. The title of the book that Somalia is a nation in search of a state was a sound

prediction and prophecy for the collapsing Somali state and the trouble for future stability of the

nation. This book is one of the books very crucial in studying the performance of Siyad Barre

regime (1969-1991) and intrigue political games which could be considered the proximate efficient

causes for collapse of the state. The authors are strong proponents of primordial perspective in

explaining Somali politics and crisis.

3. Ahmed I. Samatar. Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality. London: Zed books, 1988.

This book is originally a doctoral dissertation of Professor Ahmed Samatar, currently, Dean of the

international Studies at McMaster College, St. Paul, Minnesota. This book is overtly partisan and

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intended as a modest contribution. It could be considered one of the most authoritative research

and studies on the Socialist program of the Somalia undertaken by the military regime in 1969. It

evaluates whether socialist program and its strategy has loosened at the vice of under development

and contributed anyway thing to liberating Somalia. The author concludes with dismay and noted

the grim future and herculean task ahead. This book gives the readers new perspective in the

explanation of Somalia. It is a progressive or leftist perspective based on class analysis and

opposing neo-colonial programs in the third world countries. It is valuable in a sense of examining

all the perspective to acquire the broad picture of the realities in Somalia.

4. Ahmed Samatar, ed. The Somali Challenge: From Catastrophe to Renewal? Lynne

Rienner Publishers, 1994.

This book is a collection of 8 academic papers presented in a conference on the Somali crisis held

in Geneva during the summer of 1992 in which 30 persons participated. The editor is the Dean of

the international Studies at McMaster College, St. Paul, Minnesota. These papers attempts to

explain catastrophe and state collapse in Somalia in 1991. It focuses on four questions: what is the

morphology of Somali crisis? How did it occur? What options exist to reverse the situation and

what lessons can be learned from Somali experience? In addressing these questions, the authors of

different background dynamically link their explorations to a range of issues such as economic,

environmental, cultural, political, and international. This book is indispensable for the studies of

the state collapse in Somalia. It covers issues such regional dimension of the crisis, the role cold

war and foreign aid, dictatorship factor, environmental degradation, destruction of productive

sector and cultural decadence.

5. Brons, Maria. Society, Security, Sovereignty and the State in Somali: from Statelessness to

Statelessness? Nederland: International Books, 2001.

This book was developed from Master degree thesis on mutual impact of international, regional

and national security politics in and around Somalia. The author is strong supporter of the radical

perspective that consider all components Somali state like the idea of the state, physical base and

institutional expression, to be totally collapsed. Political ramification of this proposition is to

reinvent Somali state by using “building block approach”, which is based on building mini-states

in the different regions in a bottom up process and then in the future to bring these autonomous

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regions into some sort of federated or confederated status. The approach had failed and many

Somalis considered a prelude for dismemberment of Somalia engineered by Ethiopia. The author

also shows extreme sympathy to the separatist’s attitude of Somaliland. The analysis is based on

the perspective of society-centered security studies, which consider modern state framework as just

one option for society in the search for relative security and for the investment of political

authority and sovereignty. Its analysis of the Somali case, the author uncovers limitations of the

conventional security studies focused on conflicts and war between states. With above stated

tendencies, however, the book is valuable in its analysis of Somali state collapse and shows deep-

rooted understanding of internal dynamics.

6. Mohamed Osman. The Road to Zero: Somalia’s self destruction. Haan Asociates, 1992.

This book is personal reminiscences of Mohammad Osman, a renowned Somali diplomat in

London, Beking, Tehran, Dar-es-Salaam, Khartoum, Belgrade and New Delhi. The book covers

five decades of the life of the author and the same momentous decades in the life of Somalia. He

provides difficulties in the initial institution building and political education. He also rightly shows

the meagerness of human resources in the year of independence 1961. He offers insights to the

short sighted and inept policies of Somalia’s leaders. Particularly, he criticizes how Somali foreign

policy was articulated in reaching the objective of Somali imagined state- “great Somalia”.

This work, being personal account of a diplomat provides valuable information in understanding

inner dynamics of Somali politics during these years.

7. Simons, Anna. Networks of Dissolution: Somalia Undone . Boulder, CO: Westview Press,

1995.

The author of this book, Anna Simons is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of

California at Los Angeles. She documents Somalia's impending slide toward anarchy in this

penetrating and timely book. The book seeks to answer the questions of how do people react to a

failing yet still repressive government. What do they do when the banks run out of cash? How do

they cope with unprecedented uncertainty? These are some of the questions Simons addresses as

she introduces the reader to Somalia's descent into dissolution from within the Somali capital of

Mogadishu. The aim of this book is to challenge broadly held assumptions about the content of

nationalism, tribalism, and the state, as defined and debated by academics and as experienced by

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individuals. Moreover, is to analyze the making of a pivotal moment in Somali history. Simons

charts new ground in the study of the dissolution of a state at all levels, shuttling back and forth

between micro and macro frames, historical and everyday practices, and expatriate and Somali

experiences. Exploring the volatile mix of external interest in Somalia, internal politicking, and

enduring social structure, the author shows innovative perspective in explaining Somalia's

breakdown at the national level. Therefore, this book is well recommended to the study of Somali

state collapse.

8. Okbazghi Yohannes. The United State and the Horn of Africa: An analytical Study of

Pattern and Process. Westview Press, 1997.

In this insightful new book, Okbazghi Yohannes, associate professor of political science and

international studies at the University of Louisville, examines the role of U.S. foreign policy with

regard to the four countries that make up the Horn of Africa: Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, and

Ethiopia. The book begins by analyzing the historical patterns and processes of American policy in

relation to the African Horn during and after the Cold War, offering a comprehensive description

of the fundamental policy choices of the United States and the means chosen to achieve American

objectives in the region. Finally, Yohannes considers the extent to which the American role in the

African Horn aided or impeded the emergence of political democracy and the promotion of

economic development within the region. The chapter on Somalia is a brilliant account on the cold

war and foreign aid factor in collapsing Somali state. The book utilises new US declassified

documents which shows how western governments prevented the emergence of democratic

political culture in Somalia in its formative period (1954-1960). It shows US manoeuvres in

supporting dictatorial regime in Somalia in the pretext of countering communism. This book must

be read to understand the Cold War factor in collapsing Somali state.

9. Mohamed, Hamdi. Multiple Challenges, Multiple Struggles: A History of Somali women’s Activism in Canada. PhD Dissertation, University of Ottawa, 2003. This work is the first comprehensive research on Somali women’s agency and subjectivity since

20th century and their arrival into Canada as refugees in 1990s. It traces their copping mechanisms

adoptive strategies though socially and economically excluded through community institutions,

solidarity networks and extended family support system. The work is divided into two sections:

part one provides contextual framework, methodology and historical background. Section two

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gives historical circumstance that made these women to become refugees in Canada, encountered

difficulties and their innovative activism. This work pioneers new direction in the historical

writing of Somalia by filling the knowledge gap in the women’s history. It is indeed the foundation

of women’s study and indispensable for students of Somali history. It also captures Somali refugee

women’s capacity in copping with marginalization and cultural exclusion in the Western countries

in general and in Canada in particular.

10. Logan, Carolyn. Rebuilding Somali Political System: Growing new Roots in Indigenous

Realities, or Merely Reconstructing the Past? PhD Dissertation, Tufs University, 2002.

This dissertation considers the validity of two propositions aimed at the problem of institutional

weakness and failure in Africa using the case study of Somalia. The first proposition is that the

main root-cause of the collapse of the state in Somalia is because of mismatch of the informal

institutions of the society and the formal state institutions. This disconnect is the source of state’s

lack of legitimacy in the society. The second proposition is that this legitimacy can be strengthened

through indigenization of the political system. The “Hybrid” system of Somaliland’s legislative

council is studied as a case study. This study sheds new light on the possibility of reengineering

Somali political system that accommodates culture and traditions within modern state institutions.

Such studies that suggests accommodative approach of clanists, nationalist and Islamists are under-

explored in the literature and the analysis of Somali state crisis. This study is very important to

exploring reconstituting Somali state institutions.

11. Schwoebel, Mary Hope. Nation Building in the Lands of Somalis. PhD Dissertation,

George Mason University, 2007.

This study investigates how Somalis and their external actors have negotiated the convergence and

divergence between the indigenous and imported system of governance and conflict resolution. It

examines selected literature on nation-building, peace-building, democratization, and culture and

conflict resolution. A number of tension points are identified such as governance structure and

processes, justice structure and processes, the role of elders, the role of women, the role of civil

society, the role of religious leaders, and the position of minorities. It compares these tension

points in three state-building models in Somalia, “Somaliland” and Somali regional state of

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Ethiopia. This research is very critical to the exercises of the external actors and proposes to look

into Somalis with compounded lenses that offer new understanding of the Somali equation.

12. Reese, Scott Steven. Patricians of the Banadir: Islamic Learning, Commerce and Somali

Urban Identity in the 19 th century . PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1996.

Most Somalis speak the same language and constitute one race; however, there are many

influential minorities with distinct culture. The “Banaderi” community which overwhelmingly

dwells in coastal cities of Mogadishu, Merca and Barawe is the most influential among these

minorities. This study examines the history of “Banaderi” communities and explores how they

maintained their “distinct” position against external influences through years. It is an excellent

history that draws substantially the oral collection of the historical data and contributes to the study

of the history of the Somali minorities. It departs from the historical narratives that emphasise the

homogeneity of the nation and downplay differences.

13. Toga, Dawit. Super power Rivalry and Regional Conflict in the Horn of Africa: Shifting

Alliances, Strategic choices, and Domestic politics. PhD dissertation, Columbia University,

2000.

This dissertation examines the rivalry of the USA and USSR in 1970s and the pattern of their

strategic interactions in the Horn of Africa who pursued policies dictated by the cold war

imperatives. These strategic interactions are examined to determine to what extent domestic

political factors and the constraints of the international system had influenced the policies of the

superpowers. It analysis divergent defence and diplomatic policies of the superpowers and how

were conditioned by the internal policies of Ethiopia and Somalia, the two African opponents. It

argues that Soviet Union was better situated than the USA constrained by its democratic intuitions.

This study offers necessary backdrop to the Cold War factor in the collapse of the Somali state. It

also gives very good setting for the Horn of African political predicament and economic

underdevelopment.

14. Le Sage, Andre. Somalia and the war on terrorism: Political Islamic movements and US-

counter terrorism efforts. DPhil Thesis, Cambridge University/Jesus College, 2005.

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This dissertation provides analysis of the different groups of the Islamic movements in Somalia in

the context of the current political situation of the collapsed state and the historical role of Islam in

Somali society and politics. The dissertation concludes with an assessment of the global threat they

pose in terms of terrorism, and the wider implications of the rise of political Islamic ideologies in

Somalia, as well as the extent to which they are being accounted for and addressed by U.S.

counter-terrorism operations. This research though provides preliminary findings on the political

Islam in Somalia, nevertheless, the time of this research of post 9/11 and the fear from US easy

branding of terrorism, may have prevented many important information on the subject matter.

15. Luling, Virginia. Somali Sultanate: The Geledi City-State over 150 Years. London: Haan Publications, 2002.

This book is the final product of a PhD dissertation research project conducted by the author in the

district of Afgoye located about 30 Km from the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, on the banks of

Shabelle River. It is based on the anthropological work among Geledi people and adjacent clans

dwelling in and around Afgoye. It is a classical anthropological perspective in studying the ways

in which the building-blocks of Somali traditional politics are clustered in broader groupings.

Luling outlines three basic models: the pastoral-nomadic, the agro-pastoral model and the urban

model. Luling uses the analysis of a public performance to disclose the complexity of social

relations, reconstruct the social fabric at the larger regional level, and investigate the ways in

which traditional relationships and cultural features reshape themselves in new and modern

contexts. Written in a clear and accessible style, this is an excellent and up-to-date introduction to

the ethnography of Somalia.

16. Cassanelli, Lee. The Shaping of Somali Society. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia

Press, 1982.

While most historical writings on Somalia confine their field in the colonial period, this book goes

far beyond, and reconstructs and interprets certain aspects of Somali history before the colonial

intrusion in the late 19th century. This study was originally conducted as part of PhD thesis in 1970

and 1971 and complemented with additional research in 1977. This book explores the less known

history of Somalia and in particular focuses on the region of Southern Somalia because of the

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paucity of early written records. Therefore, this book can be considered as much a study of

nomadic ethno-history and oral history. The author approached the study of Somalia's pastoral

history from a regional perspective, one which can incorporate many interacting clans in a single

framework. This approach is beneficial because of ecological and comparative literature on ever

moving nomads, and partly by the historical evidence of social and political interaction among

various groups. The author is one of the few pre-eminent western scholars on Somalia and his

research is considered a good basis for the study of the pre-colonial history of Somalia, less

explored so far.

17. Lewis, I. M. Pastoral Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.

This book is based primarily on field research carried out in Somaliland between September 1955

and June 1957 under the auspices of the Colonial Social Science Research Council and financed

from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. Colonial funding of this research shows that it

was serving well the colonial objectives in understanding the indigenous culture and authorities.

Most of the research time, the author spent with the nomadic Dulmahante and the Jibril Abokor

cultivators in the former British Somaliland. However, the finding of the research was awkwardly

generalized to all over Somalia. The title of the book “pastoral democracy” though expresses the

participatory approach of decision making in the clannish communities, nevertheless, it could be

considered a misnomer since half of the population-women-are totally excluded from that romantic

democracy. Lewis’s work receive a lot of criticism from revisionist scholars who accuse him of

pioneering academically political clanism in Somalia and dominant anthropological perspective

which analysis Somali debacle on one single factor-the clan factor. Moreover, recently, the author

became an adamant advocate for the separatist Somaliland.

18. Osman, Abdullahi and Souare, Issaka (ed.). Somalia at the crossroads: Challenges and Perspectives on Reconstituting a Failed State. London: Adonis and Abby Publishers Ltd, 2007.

This book is a collection of academic papers and an outgrowth of a 2006 special issue of the

Journal African Renaissance focusing on Somalia and how to reconstruct it after nearly two

decades of armed conflicts and life without a central government. Contributors examine the

various issues that lie behind the current situation in Somalia, seeking answers for a number of

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questions. Why did the Somali state fail? What role did external actors and internal configurations

play in the state collapse? Why do various attempted reconciliations failed? Should Somalia be

reconstituted as one state or should more than one state be allowed to emerge? Abdullahi Osman,

the professor of a comparative politics at the University of Georgia and Issaka K. Souare, the

professor of Political science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, who edited the book

contributed also two papers and excellent introduction and conclusion chapters. Written with lucid

language and from different perspectives, contributors attempted to provide both descriptions of

the Somali state collapse and thought provoking way forward to the current Somali imbrologlio.

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