Somalia at the Crossroads

Since the fall of the Siad Bare regime in Somalia in 1991 and the fratricidal war that it unleashed in its wake, Somalia has been without an effective central government. Instead, warlords and their armed bandits have been controlling different parts of the country, with the former British colony of northern Somaliland unilaterally proclaiming its independence. Developments in the country since the recent transitional government was set up in 2004 have, however, presented both opportunities and challenges for the country. While much has been reported about the prevailing situation in the country, there has been a paucity of research articulating the various perspectives and challenges in the efforts to reconstitute Somalia's failed state. This book hopes to contribute in filling this gap.

Contributors to the volume examine the various issues that lie behind the current situation in Somalia, seeking answers to a number of crucial questions: Why did the Somali state fail? What role did external actors and the internal configurations of the Somalis' socio-political structure play in the state collapse? Did the various peace and reconciliation conferences really achieve anything? Should Somalia be reconstituted as one state or should more than one state be allowed to emerge from the ashes of the collapsed state? What is the way forward out of the current imbroglio in Somalia?
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Dr Abdulahi A. Osman currently teaches comparative politics and African politics at the Department of International Affairs and African Studies Institute, at the University of Georgia, USA. His teaching and research interests include African politics, governance, regional and international studies, peace and conflict, internal security and wars, comparative governments in the Third World. He has published several book chapters and articles in scholarly journals, including African Renaissance and Journal of Ethno-Development.

Issaka K. Souar is a PhD candidate in the department of political science at the Universit du Qubec Montral (Canada). A Contributing Editor to the London-based review journal, African Renaissance, he is the author of numerous publications relating to Africa, including Africa in the United Nations System, 1945-2005 (London, 2006); Civil Wars and Coups d'tat in West Africa (Lanham, 2006), and the novel, Samassi (London, 2004).