Somaliland: post-war nation-building and international relations, 1991-2006.
Date
2008-06-09T09:01:20Z
Authors
Jhazbhay, M. Iqbal D.
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Abstract
Abstract
This thesis is intended to explore the international relations of emerging nation-building in the Somali coast, with particular reference to the un-recognised Republic of Somaliland in the north-western Horn of Africa region. This study focuses on the international relations of Somaliland’s international quest for recognition, linked to its own culturally-rooted internal reconciliatory post-war nation-building efforts. Informed by written as well as first-hand research interviews, particular focus is placed in this study on the interplay of internal and external forces in shaping a strategy by Somaliland’s elites for acquiring international recognition and national selfdetermination.
These are placed within the broader regional and international context of attempts to resuscitate the Somali state, an endeavour offering a fitting assessment of different modalities of African nation-building within the greater Somali environment. In relative analytic terms, the competitive international relations of nation-building in Somaliland and state reconstitution in southern Somalia informs the underlying hypothesis of this thesis: Somaliland’s example as a study in the efficacy of the internally-driven,
culturally-rooted ‘bottom-up’ approach to post-war nation-building and regional
stability, and the implications this holds for prioritising reconciliation between
indigenous traditions and modernity in achieving stability in nation-building. By
contrast, the internationally-backed ‘top-down’ approach to reconstituting a
Mogadishu-based Somali state remains elusive. Yet, the international status quo
regarding the affording of diplomatic recognition to what are normally considered
secessionist ‘break-away’ regions of internationally recognised states, complicates Somaliland’s culturally rooted ‘bottom-up’ modalities. It also challenges the African Union (AU) during the ‘good governance’ era of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a context within which Somaliland fits comfortably as a good citizen of the international community.
The international relations of the Somaliland nation-building enterprise is approached from a ‘quadrilateral framework’ of interactive elements to the Somaliland experience: Reconciliation, Reconstruction, Religion and Recognition. This framework informs the four core chapters of the thesis.
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Keywords
Somalia, Somaliland, Horn of Africa, nation-building, reconciliation, reconstruction, self-determination, post-conflict stabilisation, geopolitics, Islam