Somalia’s political crisis deepens as elite power struggles block inclusive governance and electoral reform
Original framing: “Somalia needs a political settlement before it is too late” — Al Jazeera
Somalia’s state collapse is rooted in Cold War proxy wars (U.S./USSR backing Siad Barre), IMF structural adjustment in the 1980s (which dismantled public institutions), and the post-9/11 'war on terror' securitization of aid. The 1991 collapse was not spontaneous but the culmination of these interventions, yet mainstream narratives treat it as a 'natural' failure. The 2006 Ethiopian invasion, justified as counterterrorism, reignited clan conflicts and set the stage for Al-Shabaab’s rise.
Somalia’s crisis is not a failure of elections but a symptom of colonial borders, Cold War interventions, and neoliberal austerity that dismantled indigenous governance systems like *xeer* and *diya*.
The elite-driven narrative obscures how women’s networks, Sufi brotherhoods, and clan elders have historically mediated conflicts without state coercion, while Gulf States and Western powers profit from perpetual instability. A systemic solution requires hybrid governance that formalizes these indigenous systems, climate-adaptive peacebuilding to address resource conflicts, and diaspora-led economic alternatives to reduce elite capture. The trickster’s insight—that Somalia’s most stable periods were civilian-led, not elite pacts—exposes the absurdity of framing 'settlements' as the sole path to peace. Without centering marginalized voices and historical justice, any political agreement will merely replicate the same extractive structures that have fueled violence for decades.