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Despite its
participation in the establishment of Somaliland's state template, the
clan system is often neglected or simplified by scholars when being
described in dualistic terms either as the core of the conflict facing
Somalia's south, or as a phenomena too redundant for inclusion in the
discussion concerning Somaliland's development processes. (Palmberg,
1999:64, 75, Meredith, 2006:154; Barth, 1969:16) Though, when included
in development dynamics, the clan system is often identified as crucial
for Somaliland's societal structure. In fact, I.M. Lewis describes
kinship as the key to understanding conflict resolution, trade, and the
entire political structure of the Somali society, and goes as far as
identifying the social institution as the primary social organization of
Somalia. (Bradbury, 2008:12-13) If this is even slightly the case one
might ask why the clan system is so often excluded in development
coherence. In fact, the whole concept seems rarely illustrated and
instead only tenuously defined and discussed in development contexture.
Based on the
ideas of Björn Hettne and Hans Abrahamson, the meager understanding of
the clan concepts and its relation to Somaliland's state machinery might
be due to the very definition of the role of the state. This, by
claiming our international order, is constructed from the nation- state
system 300 years ago starting with the Peace of Westphalia 1648, rigidly
identifying the imagined needs and responsibilities of the state, based
upon the conceptualization of sovereignty, central authority, security
and justice. (Hettne, 2005) Somaliland's clan system, providing its
members with 'security' and 'justice' while maintaining social
construction of behavior, is therefore systematically ignored by the
Westphalian order of understanding authority and security as centralized
phenomena independent from social structures and non- state governance.
(Abrahamson, 2003:a) Hence, Somaliland's use of geo- cultural factors
goes beyond the essential functions and actors of governance as defined
by the Westphalian order, creating another point of departure neglected
by narrow modern- state templates.
To understand the importance of social institutions in nation building
processes in the Horn of Africa it is crucial to learn from its
historical experiences. The several foreign and colonial attempts
striving for western state models have failed which indicates an even
greater failure when the progresses of today's Somalia could not expand
before International actors rest their case and held back its help
efforts. The Somali clan context with its identities was simply too
dynamic and poly- ethic for colonial simplifications. (Meredith,
2006:154, Barth, 1969:16) Hence it was not colonial attempts that
constructed a "national landscape" that unified the people or provided
them with a common sense of origin when nation building through
colonialism simply could not outrival the clan identity as the primary
sense of belonging, something which was seen as necessary from the
Westphalian order. (Palmberg, 1999:64, 75) Words of Stuart Hall:
"It is only through the relation to the Other, the relation to what it
is not, to precisely what it lacks, that the 'positive' meaning of any
term- and thus its 'identity'- can be constructed" (Baaz, 2001:6)
Somaliland did not develop from a modernization process or hierarchic
leadership based on a centralized state system but through a bottom- up,
society led processes based on customary norms collected in the clan
structure. (Kaplan, 2008, Doornbos, 2002)
"(…) Somaliland's evolution shows that states should look inward for
their resources and institutional models and adopt political structures
and processes that reflect the history, complexity, and particularity of
their peoples and environment. Instead of mimicking a Western style
top-down system of governance, (…)" (Kaplan, 2008)
Additionally, Somaliland's institutional framework based on traditional
norms and values, maintained in the clan context, is stated to have won
legitimacy simply because of the social institutions enabling local
people's integration in political institutions. Somaliland is now valued
as a far better democratic profile than all its neighbors and includes
the most democratic political institutions in the Horn of Africa because
of its perceptiveness towards its cultural context. Furthermore,
Somaliland has conceded several democratic milestones lacking in many
states in the Middle Eastern and African region. (Kaplan, 2008,
Simanowitz, 2005) And its political structure is said to have produced:
"An unprecedented degree of interconnectedness between the state and
society… in stark contrast to the past when previous regimes received
enormous infusions of external assistance without which they could not
survive, and as a result became completely divorced from the economic
foundations of their own society" (Kaplan, 2008)
In brief, the Horn of Africa's environmental and political context
requires collective strength and cooperation together with a sense of
belonging that maintains security and safety in a precarious landscape.
These needs have resulted in a special construction of social
institutions used in Somaliland's development processes, ignoring rigid
Westphalian definitions of governance, creating a political unit by
customary mechanisms, social identities and structures of necessity for
the creation and legitimization of the present institution building
processes (Kaplan, 2008; Simanowitz, 2005) This is not to state that
clan structures always profit from development by enabling
interconnection between the civil society and the state nor is it to say
that clan systems has been ignored completely when traditional
anthropology now and then has tried to define it. This is rather to
bring forth another dimension, in seldom highlighted, to enable
additional knowledge regarding the relation between clan identity and
development processes.
By Marta
Edebol
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