Consider Somaliland

Consider Somaliland PDF

Author: Marleen Renders

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2012-01-20

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9004218483

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Can ‘traditional’ leaders and institutions help to build more legitimate, accountable and effective governments in polities or ‘states’ under (re)construction? This book investigates the fascinating case of “Somaliland”, the 20-year old non-recognized state which emerged from Somalia’s conflict and state collapse.

Statehood and Self-Determination

Statehood and Self-Determination PDF

Author: Duncan French

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-02-21

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 1107311276

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The concepts of statehood and self-determination provide the normative structure on which the international legal order is ultimately premised. As a system of law founded upon the issue of territorial control, ascertaining and determining which entities are entitled to the privileges of statehood continues to be one of the most difficult and complex issues. Moreover, although the process of decolonisation is almost complete, the principle of self-determination has raised new challenges for the metropolitan territories of established states, including the extent to which 'internal' self-determination guarantees additional rights for minority and other groups. As the controversies surrounding remedial secession have revealed, the territorial integrity of a state can be questioned if there are serious and persistent breaches of a people's human rights. This volume brings together such debates to reflect further on the current state of international law regarding these fundamental issues.

Understanding Statebuilding

Understanding Statebuilding PDF

Author: Rebecca Richards

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-24

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1317004663

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Much analysis of state building focusses on dissecting specific projects and attempting to identify what has gone ’wrong’ in states such as Afghanistan and Iraq. What draws less attention is what has gone ’right’ in non-interventionist statebuilding projects within 'unrecognised’ states. By examining this model in more depth a more successful model of statebuilding emerges in which the end goal of modern democracy and good governance are more likely to be realized. Indeed 'states-within-states’ such as Somaliland where external intervention in the statebuilding process is largely absent can provide vital new lessons. Somaliland is a functioning democratic political entity in northwestern Somalia which declared its independence from the troubled south in 1991 and then embarked on an ambitious project to create a democratic government and successful state in the post-conflict environment. The leaders and the people of Somaliland have since succeeded not only in maintaining peace and stability, but also in building the institutions of government and the foundations for democracy that have led to a succession of elections, peaceful transfers of power and a consolidation of democratization. The resulting state of Somaliland is widely hailed as a beacon of success within a politically turbulent region and provides a useful framework for successful statebuilding projects throughout the world.

Diasporas, Development and Peacemaking in the Horn of Africa

Diasporas, Development and Peacemaking in the Horn of Africa PDF

Author: Liisa Laakso

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2014-08-14

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1783601000

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Exiled populations, who increasingly refer to themselves as diaspora communities, hold a strong stake in the fate of their countries of origin. In a world becoming ever more interconnected, they engage in 'long-distance politics' towards, send financial remittances to and support social development in their homelands. Transnational diaspora networks have thus become global forces shaping the relationship between countries, regions and continents. This important intervention, written by scholars working at the cutting edge of diaspora and conflict, challenges the conventional wisdom that diaspora are all too often warmongers, their time abroad causing them to become more militant in their engagement with local affairs. Rather, they can and should be a force for good in bringing peace to their home countries. Featuring in-depth case studies from the Horn of Africa, including Somalia and Ethiopia, this volume presents an essential rethinking of a key issue in African politics and development.

Coexistence in the Aftermath of Mass Violence

Coexistence in the Aftermath of Mass Violence PDF

Author: Eve Zucker

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2020-12-07

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 0472127195

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Coexistence in the Aftermath of Mass Violence demonstrates how imagination, empathy, and resilience contribute to the processes of social repair after ethnic and political violence. Adding to the literature on transitional justice, peacebuilding, and the anthropology of violence and social repair, the authors show how these conceptual pathways—imagination, empathy and resilience—enhance recovery, coexistence, and sustainable peace. Coexistence (or reconciliation) is the underlying goal or condition desired after mass violence, enabling survivors to move forward with their lives. Imagination allows these survivors (victims, perpetrators, bystanders) to draw guidance and inspiration from their social and cultural imaginaries, to develop empathy, and to envision a future of peace and coexistence. Resilience emerges through periods of violence and its aftermaths through acts of survival, compassion, modes of rebuilding social worlds, and the establishment of a peaceful society. Focusing on society at the grass roots level, the authors discuss the myriad and little understood processes of social repair that allow ruptured societies and communities to move toward a peaceful and stable future. The volume also illustrates some of the ways in which imagination, empathy, and resilience may contribute to the prevention of future violence and the authors conclude with a number of practical and policy recommendations. The cases include Cambodia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Colombia, the Southern Cone, Iraq, and Bosnia.

Eroding Local Capacity

Eroding Local Capacity PDF

Author: Monica Kathina Juma

Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9789171065025

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Eroding Local Capacity is a critical examination of the interplay between international and local actors operating in the humanitarian arena in Africa. All sides emphasise the need to build local capacity for humanitarian action, yet the results have not been substantial. Even long-term, semi-permanent emergencies have generated little local capacity to assist and protect the victims of violence, displacement and related deprivations. In some cases, whatever local capacity did exist has been overwhelmed by the international aid presence. Why is this so? What is the case for a more even division of labour between North and South in this area, and why is it so difficult to bring about? The book focuses on cases from East Africa and the Horn. It considers institutional capacity in the public and private sector, as well as legal and social norms of humanitarian action. The authors are African and Nordic scholars who worked together on the NORAD-supported project over a 3-year period. Preliminary conclusions were discussed at seminars organized by the Centre for Foreign Relations (Dar es Salaam), the School of Government at the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town), and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (Bergen).

Somalia

Somalia PDF

Author: Abdulkadir O. Farah

Publisher: Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd

Published: 2007-03-31

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1912234866

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Since the final collapse of Somalia's repressive regime in 1991, Somalia has presented the world not only with the most profound case of state collapse witnessed in modern times but also with one of the most intriguing cases of political fragmentation, armed conflicts, lawlessness and statelessness. Inevitably the last 20 years of statelessness and chaos has left the Somali economy destitute and made Somalia to be ranked among the five poorest 'countries' in the world. Contributors to this volume examine efforts at reconstituting the failed Somali state and the role of the Somali Diaspora and civil society groups in the processes. They also analyse how the Somali Diaspora and civil society in Somalia engage and cooperate to further processes of state-reconstitution in Somalia as well as help the Somali Diaspora adjust in their host nations.

Fixing Fragile States

Fixing Fragile States PDF

Author: Seth D. Kaplan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2008-06-30

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0275998290

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Fragile states are a menace. Their lawless environments spread instability across borders, provide havens for terrorists, threaten access to natural resources, and consign millions of people to poverty. But Western attempts to reform these benighted places have rarely made things better. Kaplan argues that to avoid revisiting the carnage and catastrophes seen in places like Iraq, Bosnia, and the Congo, the West needs to rethink its ideas on fragile states and start helping their peoples build governments and states that actually fit the local landscape. Fixing Fragile States lays bare the fatal flaws in current policies and explains why the only way to give these places a chance at peace and prosperity is to rethink how development really works. Flawed governance systems, not corrupt bureaucrats or armed militias, are the cancers that devour weak states. The cure, therefore, is not to send more aid or more peacekeepers but to redesign political, economic, and legal structures-to refashion them so they can leverage local traditions, overcome political fragmentation, expand governance capacities, and catalyze corporate investment. After dissecting the reasons why some states prosper and others sink into poverty and violence, Fixing Fragile States visits seven deeply dysfunctional places—including Pakistan, Bolivia, West Africa, and Syria—and explains how even the most desperate of them can be transformed.