From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Apr 13 2010 - 13:32:45 EDT
Dr. Weinstein: The Root Cause of Somalia Political Conflicts
Apr 13, 2010 - 6:55:03 AM
Report Drafted By: Dr. Michael A. Weinstein
Somalia's conflicts are the result of the disadvantages that it has incurred
from inheriting a traditional segmented and decentralized social
organization and having to compete with (quasi-)modern Westphalian,
centrally organized, and bureaucratized states. Traditional Somali society,
which is based on lateral conflict resolution, is at the antipodes of the
Westphalian model.
As a result of its structural disadvantage, societies organized according to
the Westphalian state model have incessantly intervened in Somalia to pursue
their own perceived interests, exacerbating the dissociative tendencies in
Somali society and weakening the associative tendencies.
Somalia will be unable to compete successfully in a world of predatory
powers unless Somalis can organize themselves in a strong national state,
whether of centralist , federalist, or even confederalist form. If Somalis
fail to achieve modern statehood, they will be Balkanized at best, subject
to the continuation of chronic instability, or, at worst, victims of a slow
mass suicide abetted by stronger powers.
It is misplaced, at best, and a libel to blame the consequences of a
structural condition on supposed traits in the Somali character. If it means
anything in political analysis, "character" is a very dubious symptom.
Somalis are simply human beings of various types, temperaments and
dispositions, although there is certainly a distinctive Somali style of
relating to others that has no bearing on levels of morality and political
competence. The political behavior of Somalis can be explained adequately by
general principles of political analysis that apply to any political
situation - forms of organization and disorganization, distributions of
power, and assertions of interest.
The path that Somalia takes with respect to the statehood question will not
be determined by Somalis alone, but by all the players in the country's
conflicts. The role that Somalis play in forming their future will depend on
their ability to self-organize in the face on external interventions and
pressures. Having gone through a failed revolution, the prospects of a
popular movement are dim. That means that self-organization depends on
regeneration of Somalia's corrupted, divided, uncompromising and incompetent
- that is, demoralized - "political class." When the people have been
bloodied, there are only the leaders. Where are the leaders?
The preceding analysis implies that Somalia does not need blueprints for
political organization. Every conceivable state-form has been defended by
one Somali intellectual or another - one could teach a graduate course on
the state simply by assigning the discourse on the state developed by
Somalis through their websites. Ideas, whether or not they reflect sectoral
interests, are not in short supply. There is no magic blueprint. Where are
the leaders?
Report Drafted By: Dr. Michael A. Weinstein, Professor of Political Science,
Purdue University Chicago <mailto:weinstem@purdue.edu> weinstem@purdue.edu
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----