How the international community has imposed medieval governance on Somalia
Mohamud M Uluso
2012-09-14, Issue <
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/597> 597
<
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/84050>
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/84050
Somalia's new parliamentary leadership has effectively been booby trapped by
a flawed governance model imposed by the international community.
Immediately after the imposition of the Provisional Constitution (PC),
establishing a medieval model of governance in Somalia, Prof Ken Menkhaus,
scholar and UN/US government advisor on Somalia, published an article under
the title, <
http://bit.ly/NYZT56> Somalia's 20-year Experiment in Hybrid
Governance in World Politics Review and on various Somali websites.
The article offers theoretical justification for the adoption of what the
author termed the ‘Mediated State’ model of governance in which the central
government outsources its core functions to the private sector, nonprofit
organizations and local polities. This model of governance embedded in the
PC assumes the existence of legitimate and accountable local political
authorities either interested in or obliged to cooperate with the national
leaders and institutions. Thus, the leaders of the central government
without responsibilities and competencies must gain legitimacy, functions
and authority from those local authorities.
Menkhaus, who has been musing on Somalia’s dystopian future for the past 20
years, dispels the perception that there will be a functional government in
Somalia after 20 August 2012. He considers the efforts devoted to
establishing a central government fruitless. And finally, he admits that the
‘Mediated State’ model is not amenable to donor aid programs.
As an example of the aptness of the ‘Mediated State’ model for fragile
states (Somalia), Menkhaus refers to the Wajir case study titled [url=
<
http://bit.ly/PbtFAA> ]
http://bit.ly/PbtFAA] ‘The rise of a mediated state
in northern Kenya: the Wajir story and its implications for state
building[/url]. But it seems tenuous if not a stretch to make the Wajir
story - the security and development experience of a small community - a
model for rebuilding the collapsed state of Somalia. The motivations of the
Wajir community and the indifference of the Kenyan Government to the
insecurity in the Somali-inhabited areas could have different explanations,
including the dictatorial system, corruption, and the deliberate politics of
divide and rule. In the years 1992-2002, the Kenyan government had
sufficient coercive power and resources to quell any security disturbance in
any part of Kenya. In Somalia, local government laws contained provisions
guaranteeing the participation of traditional and civic leaders in the
security, development and political activities of the regions and districts.
But the dictatorship made public participation meaningless. Anyway, those
kinds of local experiences should not be elevated as a model to
state-building in Somalia. It is ironic to see donors rush to prevent at any
cost the falling apart of the Ethiopian state at any critical moment, while
Somalis are exhorted to drift apart.
Menkhaus is not alone in the efforts to prescribe a primordial model of
governance for Somalia. Specifically, the imposition of the PC and the
formation of the symbolic Federal Government (FG) is the practical
implementation of the theoretical political framework articulated by a host
of American and European scholars and institutions. The list of scholars
includes Matt Bryden (‘New Hope for Somalia? The Building Block Approach’),
John Yoo (‘Fixing Failed States’), Richard Dowden (‘Don't force statehood on
Somalia’), Bronwyn E. Bruton (‘Somalia A New Approach’), Peter Haldèn
(‘Somalia: Failed State or Nascent States-System?’), Ken Menkhaus
(‘Governance without Government in Somalia: Spoilers, State Building, and
the Politics of Coping’). The institutions include Chatham House (‘Somalia's
Transition: What Role for Sub-National Entities?’) and the Berghof Research
Center for Constructive Conflict Management , which published the article
titled ‘On Hybrid Political Orders and Emerging States: State Formation in
the context of "Fragility"’ written by Volker Boege, Anne Brown, Kevin
Clements and Anna Nolan.
Also, in 1995, the European Union funded a study project co-chaired by Prof
Ioan M Lewis and James Mayall who issued a document titled, ‘A study of
decentralized political structure of Somalia: A Menu of Options’, In 1998,
the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry drafted a policy paper for the
conceptualization and implementation of a ‘clan based building blocks
strategy’ for Somalia. Despite the widely documented criticisms (debunking),
if not outright rejection of clan federalism by the majority of Somalis,
foreign powers spearheading federalism went ahead with the imposition of a
federal system - a harbinger of national conflict.
Nation building opponents, theorists of the ‘wicked problem’ concept in
political science, revisionists of Westphalian nation-state sovereignty for
fragile (failed, weakened, collapsed) states, war on terror pundits and
profiteers, donor bureaucrats, and historically rival neighbours (Ethiopia
and Kenya) have targeted Somalia to seriously debilitate rather than
rehabilitate. These groups would use Somalia as a laboratory experiment or
as a site for looting foreign aid. They have developed brilliant narratives
that have obfuscated the flaws and superficiality of the perfunctory
international efforts to help Somalia.
In his paper on ‘State Fragility as a Wicked Problem’, Menkhaus argues that
Somalia classified as a ‘wicked problem’ rather than ‘tame problem’ defies
what he called the traditional state building policy prescriptions. Thus,
behind closed doors Somalia is viewed and dealt with as a dystopian society
that requires a new doctrine and policy prescriptions developed by the
external powers.
Organizing and funding conferences for Somalia and issuing statements in the
English language for international consumption became permanent practice and
evidence for achievements by the international community. Few countries,
many independent foreign journalists and scholars, international
humanitarian organizations and others including investigative bodies of the
UN have worked hard to point out the misguided policies of the international
community towards Somalia, but their objective analysis and recommendations
were ignored.
As an illustration, the International Crisis Group (ICG) published a
critical policy briefing statement titled- ‘Somalia: from Troubled
Transition to a Tarnished Transition?’ that analyzed the harmful
consequences of the UN controlled process for ending the transition period.
In its quick response, ‘UNPOS response to ICG article on Somali Transition’,
the United Nations Political Office (UNPOS) did not deny the criticisms and
argued that Somali politics are complicated and fractious and that the
process has been difficult and has and will continue to be deeply flawed in
many ways. This reveals the decidedly destructive judgment of the donor
bureaucrats on Somalia.
In August 2008, Hiiraan Online –an influential Somali Website - published an
editorial critical of bottom-up rule titled ‘From Statehood to Primordial
City States’ in response to an article published by the New York Times,
‘Anarchy-cursed Nation looks at bottom up rule’. The emphasis on the
bottom-up approach is to obstruct state-building in Somalia. One of the
recycled myths is that the political processes in Somaliland and Puntland
were bottom-up approaches while in reality the processes in both local
entities were top-down approaches in their context. Somaliland and Puntland
have yet to implement devolution of power to local governments. Therefore,
the debate over the bottom-up versus top-down approaches is deceptive.
Somalia needs both approaches simultaneously. The focus should remain on the
complementarities of the governance structures at all levels, public
consensus and awareness of the state building agenda, and resource
availability.
The above-mentioned scholars share the view that the Somali people are
unable to understand and practice the value system behind the Westphalian
nation-state concept, which constitutes the foundation of the international
norms of economic cooperation, foreign aid and diplomatic relations. As a
consequence, they hold that the Somali state should be allowed to
disintegrate and be replaced with a medieval system of governance with
varying names: community based development system of governance, development
without regard to governance, nascent-states system or mediated state
governance - all without sovereignty. Now, in the presumption that Somalis
lack political sophistication, it’s hard to fathom the Somali ability to
understand the suggested messy state formation process based on what has
been called the ‘Mediated State’ of governance.
Menkhaus and others did not explore sufficiently the profound effect of
external influence and interventions in Somalia. The ‘Mediated State’ is a
destructive governance model, which institutionalizes political
fragmentation and probably will hinder the emergence of effective national
government with capacity to address governance needs.
The Somali people should be very much concerned about the decisions and
actions of the new political leadership and a parliament populated by
individuals accused of corruption and with questionable loyalty. Already the
seeds of fresh conflicts have been planted among Somalis, and the new
parliamentary leadership has been booby trapped. The improper travel of
former parliament speaker, Mr. Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan to Kenya and United
Arab Emirates for discussions with foreign leaders - allegedly about rigging
the outcome of the presidential election - has shattered public confidence
in and enthusiasm for the new parliament as well as the credibility of the
whole political process. In addition, the new parliament, hijacked by the
international community, has been ordered to quickly elect a new president,
who without proper preparation should attend on 26 September in New York an
international conference on Somalia.
The hijacking of national institutions by the international community is the
beginning of FG failure. To prevent a dystopian future for Somalia , it is
urgently needed to create and activate a Somali Transparency and
Accountability Society (STAS) for the protection and defense of Somalia. In
the 21st century, Somalia needs a democratic and functional national
authority accountable first and foremost to its people, not only willing but
demonstrably capable of representing national interests and empowered to
deliver the critical functions of government.
Received on Thu Sep 13 2012 - 21:33:26 EDT
