Limits of hybrid political orders: the case of Somaliland

Hoehne, Markus Virgil

doi:10.1080/17531055.2013.776279

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Customary authorities are often prone to corruption, especially when they enjoy lifelong tenure. Hybrid governance may also give rise to systems of patronage, as when elected presidents maneuver their own loyalists into powerful posts on customary decision-making bodies (Belloni 2012;Hoehne 2013). However, these potential flaws should be kept in perspective.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should humanitarian interveners promote democracy after genocide?

Recchia

2018

Int. Theory

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Scholars and policymakers in the West commonly hold that liberal countries that intervene to stop genocide subsequently ought to establish democratic political institutions to enable peaceful collective self-determination. I argue that this guidance is problematic. First, introducing electoral democracy in deeply ethnically divided societies -especially but not only after genocide -often results in either tyrannical majority rule or deadlocked decision making rather than inclusive self-determination. Second, normatively speaking, John Rawls made a strong case that inclusive self-determination can be achieved through 'decent,' less than democratic political structures that enable group-based representation. Bringing these insights together, I argue that particularly for postgenocidal societies that lack prior experience with liberal democratic rule, outside interveners should stop short of actively promoting full electoral democracy and instead consider promoting hybrid political institutions that combine popularly elected bodies with customary authority structures. Such hybrid institutions can prevent tyrannical majority rule as well as decision-making deadlock. They are also likely to fit better with local culture. Therefore, they may offer a more robust foundation for peaceful self-determination. A discussion of hybrid institutions in postwar Somaliland and Bougainville illustrates how these arrangements can facilitate peaceful self-determination in practice.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should humanitarian interveners promote democracy after genocide?

Recchia

2018

Int. Theory

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“…Notably, the military regime that seized power in 1969 under the leadership of General Mohamed Siad Barre officially disregarded anything traditional. 84 In the first years of its rule the regime introduced a unified civil code that aimed to sharply curtail Sharia as well as Xeer. It abolished 'tribalism' and key elements of Xeer, including its application to tribal land and water and grazing rights.…”

Section: Somalia: Kinship Authority and Customary Law 66mentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Justice or Ethnojustice? Engaging with Customary Mechanisms to Reintegrate Ex-Combatants in Somalia

Ubink¹,

Rea²

2017

International Journal of Transitional Justice

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The inclusion of customary justice mechanisms is increasingly being invoked as an answer to the top-down, externally-driven approach to transitional justice. But the practice of engaging with customary justice systems proves complicated. The approach of governments and the international community has been criticized as 'ethnojustice', where a male-elderly version of customary justice is invented and imposed, based on a myth of community consensus. In Somalia, the government and international community are currently considering a role for customary justice systems in the reintegration of low-risk disengaged Al-Shabaab (AS) combatants. In this article we combine unique data on local perceptions regarding the return of ex-combatants in Somalia with insights from the literature, to critically examine the prospects of engaging customary justice mechanisms in South-Central Somalia in the reintegration of disengaged Al Shabaab combatants and of a supporting role for the international donor community and the government.

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“…However, as the government continues to develop and 'modernise,' this role is being significantly tested, particularly in disputes pertaining to the Guurti itself or to its political interests. A 2006 dispute over the term length for the Guurti made this possibility all too apparent when the Guurti found itself in the middle of an intragovernmental dispute about itself, a dispute that was exacerbated by the Guurti's role in the lengthy postponement of presidential elections (see Richards, 2014;Renders, 2012;Hohne 2013;Walls 2009; SAPD 2012).…”

Section: Bridging the Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing the Outside In: Somaliland, Statebuilding and Dual Hybridity

Richards

2015

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding

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Abstract:International norms of what it means to be a state dictate domestic policy within developing and unrecognised states but must co-exist with internal demands. With a mutual dependence between internal and external considerations and, indeed, legitimacy, at the fore of Somaliland's statebuilding project and its stability, it is a useful study in achieving 'success' in statebuilding and in what success can mean in bringing together internal and external demands. This article examines the impact of the hybrid inclusion of traditional authority in the central democratic government as the marriage between internal and external demands. This article argues that the Somaliland state is successful because it is a flexible process rather than a project; a process that reflects the demands and expectations of society, an aspect that is often absent in statebuilding projects. The 1991 failure and collapse of the state in Somalia ushered in what was to become a long-term and largely unsuccessful effort aimed at internationally driven post-conflict statebuilding. Despite persistent failures the international community and Somalia's neighbours continue their endeavours aimed at building a stable, unified and accountable Somalia. However, as Spears (2004, 179-80) notes, 'in a few cases [of state failure or collapse], the breakdown of large, arbitrary state units has given way to more coherent and viable (though not always more benevolent) political entities.' In Somalia, this breakdown was immediately apparent and it continues to take place. Although emerging political entities within Somalia are not always lasting or stable, pockets of locally created governance have emerged, providing social and physical stability and security to the people. In the northeast province of Puntland, a long-standing regional government offers basic services and security to the population. And in the northwest territory of Somaliland, the most organised and developed of these, a new 'state' that exhibits what has so far eluded the south is emerging, and an extraordinary project of domestically-led statebuilding is taking place within the larger failure of Somalia. Keywords 1Throughout the literature on failed states and that of statebuilding, the on-going project in Somalia is a frequent point of reference. Within these studies the existence of an independent Somaliland has 2 widely been seen as problematic for the long-standing goal of re-establishing a government able to exercise its power throughout the entirety of Somalia. Despite its 1991 declaration of independence, the insistence on the territorial integrity of Somalia coming from the West as well as strongly from the African Union ensures that Somaliland's stability remains in the context of stability in greater Somalia. Although Somaliland is gaining increasing academic attention, it still remains an underresearched area. In the realm of policy, despite increasing external engagement with the territory, much of this takes place under the guise of Somalia-wide projects. The cas...

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Limits of hybrid political orders: the case of Somaliland

Cited by 28 publications

References 18 publications

Should humanitarian interveners promote democracy after genocide?

Should humanitarian interveners promote democracy after genocide?

Community Justice or Ethnojustice? Engaging with Customary Mechanisms to Reintegrate Ex-Combatants in Somalia

Bringing the Outside In: Somaliland, Statebuilding and Dual Hybridity

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