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Annotated Bibliography for Somalia

1. Lewis, I.M. A Modern History of Somalia: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa.
London: Longmans, 1980.
The author of this general history of Somalia is a well known social anthropologist professor I. M.
Lewis, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics. Lewis has been studying
Somalia since 1950 when he undertook his graduate research work in 1950s. History in this book
is based on oral history as well documentary sources. Up until now, the author has been
continuously observing and gathering empirical data on Somalia to be able to updates his classical
historical work. Critic of Lewis mainly argues against his almost biblical adherence to primordial
lineage perspective in explaining Somali history and politics and the causes of the collapse of the
state. Nevertheless, it could be said with great conviction that no earnest researcher or student of
Somalia can bypass Lewis in his academic endeavour and particularly his historical background.
He is the founder of modern Somali studies and authority; and contributed immensely in the
Somali scholarship.

2. Latin, David D. and Samatar, Said. Somalia: Nation in Search of a State. Boulder:
Westview Press, 1987.
David Laitin, professor of political science at the University of California, and Said S. Samatar,
professor of history at Rutgers University examine the important events, themes, and influences of
the past in order to explain the complexities of the politics, society, culture and economy of
Somalia in the 1980s. The title of the book that Somalia is a nation in search of a state was a sound
prediction and prophecy for the collapsing Somali state and the trouble for future stability of the
nation. This book is one of the books very crucial in studying the performance of Siyad Barre
regime (1969-1991) and intrigue political games which could be considered the proximate efficient
causes for collapse of the state. The authors are strong proponents of primordial perspective in
explaining Somali politics and crisis.

3. Ahmed I. Samatar. Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality. London: Zed books, 1988.
This book is originally a doctoral dissertation of Professor Ahmed Samatar, currently, Dean of the
international Studies at McMaster College, St. Paul, Minnesota. This book is overtly partisan and
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intended as a modest contribution. It could be considered one of the most authoritative research
and studies on the Socialist program of the Somalia undertaken by the military regime in 1969. It
evaluates whether socialist program and its strategy has loosened at the vice of under development
and contributed anyway thing to liberating Somalia. The author concludes with dismay and noted
the grim future and herculean task ahead. This book gives the readers new perspective in the
explanation of Somalia. It is a progressive or leftist perspective based on class analysis and
opposing neo-colonial programs in the third world countries. It is valuable in a sense of examining
all the perspective to acquire the broad picture of the realities in Somalia.

4. Ahmed Samatar, ed. The Somali Challenge: From Catastrophe to Renewal? Lynne
Rienner Publishers, 1994.
This book is a collection of 8 academic papers presented in a conference on the Somali crisis held
in Geneva during the summer of 1992 in which 30 persons participated. The editor is the Dean of
the international Studies at McMaster College, St. Paul, Minnesota. These papers attempts to
explain catastrophe and state collapse in Somalia in 1991. It focuses on four questions: what is the
morphology of Somali crisis? How did it occur? What options exist to reverse the situation and
what lessons can be learned from Somali experience? In addressing these questions, the authors of
different background dynamically link their explorations to a range of issues such as economic,
environmental, cultural, political, and international. This book is indispensable for the studies of
the state collapse in Somalia. It covers issues such regional dimension of the crisis, the role cold
war and foreign aid, dictatorship factor, environmental degradation, destruction of productive
sector and cultural decadence.

5. Brons, Maria. Society, Security, Sovereignty and the State in Somali: from Statelessness to
Statelessness? Nederland: International Books, 2001.
This book was developed from Master degree thesis on mutual impact of international, regional
and national security politics in and around Somalia. The author is strong supporter of the radical
perspective that consider all components Somali state like the idea of the state, physical base and
institutional expression, to be totally collapsed. Political ramification of this proposition is to
reinvent Somali state by using “building block approach”, which is based on building mini-states
in the different regions in a bottom up process and then in the future to bring these autonomous
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regions into some sort of federated or confederated status. The approach had failed and many
Somalis considered a prelude for dismemberment of Somalia engineered by Ethiopia. The author
also shows extreme sympathy to the separatist’s attitude of Somaliland. The analysis is based on
the perspective of society-centered security studies, which consider modern state framework as just
one option for society in the search for relative security and for the investment of political
authority and sovereignty. Its analysis of the Somali case, the author uncovers limitations of the
conventional security studies focused on conflicts and war between states. With above stated
tendencies, however, the book is valuable in its analysis of Somali state collapse and shows deep-
rooted understanding of internal dynamics.

6. Mohamed Osman. The Road to Zero: Somalia’s self destruction. Haan Asociates, 1992.
This book is personal reminiscences of Mohammad Osman, a renowned Somali diplomat in
London, Beking, Tehran, Dar-es-Salaam, Khartoum, Belgrade and New Delhi. The book covers
five decades of the life of the author and the same momentous decades in the life of Somalia. He
provides difficulties in the initial institution building and political education. He also rightly shows
the meagerness of human resources in the year of independence 1961. He offers insights to the
short sighted and inept policies of Somalia’s leaders. Particularly, he criticizes how Somali foreign
policy was articulated in reaching the objective of Somali imagined state- “great Somalia”.
This work, being personal account of a diplomat provides valuable information in understanding
inner dynamics of Somali politics during these years.

7. Simons, Anna. Networks of Dissolution: Somalia Undone. Boulder, CO: Westview Press,
1995.
The author of this book, Anna Simons is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of
California at Los Angeles. She documents Somalia's impending slide toward anarchy in this
penetrating and timely book. The book seeks to answer the questions of how do people react to a
failing yet still repressive government. What do they do when the banks run out of cash? How do
they cope with unprecedented uncertainty? These are some of the questions Simons addresses as
she introduces the reader to Somalia's descent into dissolution from within the Somali capital of
Mogadishu. The aim of this book is to challenge broadly held assumptions about the content of
nationalism, tribalism, and the state, as defined and debated by academics and as experienced by
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individuals. Moreover, is to analyze the making of a pivotal moment in Somali history. Simons
charts new ground in the study of the dissolution of a state at all levels, shuttling back and forth
between micro and macro frames, historical and everyday practices, and expatriate and Somali
experiences. Exploring the volatile mix of external interest in Somalia, internal politicking, and
enduring social structure, the author shows innovative perspective in explaining Somalia's
breakdown at the national level. Therefore, this book is well recommended to the study of Somali
state collapse.

8. Okbazghi Yohannes. The United State and the Horn of Africa: An analytical Study of
Pattern and Process. Westview Press, 1997.

In this insightful new book, Okbazghi Yohannes, associate professor of political science and
international studies at the University of Louisville, examines the role of U.S. foreign policy with
regard to the four countries that make up the Horn of Africa: Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, and
Ethiopia. The book begins by analyzing the historical patterns and processes of American policy in
relation to the African Horn during and after the Cold War, offering a comprehensive description
of the fundamental policy choices of the United States and the means chosen to achieve American
objectives in the region. Finally, Yohannes considers the extent to which the American role in the
African Horn aided or impeded the emergence of political democracy and the promotion of
economic development within the region. The chapter on Somalia is a brilliant account on the cold
war and foreign aid factor in collapsing Somali state. The book utilises new US declassified
documents which shows how western governments prevented the emergence of democratic
political culture in Somalia in its formative period (1954-1960). It shows US manoeuvres in
supporting dictatorial regime in Somalia in the pretext of countering communism. This book must
be read to understand the Cold War factor in collapsing Somali state.

9. Mohamed, Hamdi. Multiple Challenges, Multiple Struggles: A History of Somali women’s

Activism in Canada. PhD Dissertation, University of Ottawa, 2003.
This work is the first comprehensive research on Somali women’s agency and subjectivity since
20th century and their arrival into Canada as refugees in 1990s. It traces their copping mechanisms
adoptive strategies though socially and economically excluded through community institutions,
solidarity networks and extended family support system. The work is divided into two sections:
part one provides contextual framework, methodology and historical background. Section two
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gives historical circumstance that made these women to become refugees in Canada, encountered
difficulties and their innovative activism. This work pioneers new direction in the historical
writing of Somalia by filling the knowledge gap in the women’s history. It is indeed the foundation
of women’s study and indispensable for students of Somali history. It also captures Somali refugee
women’s capacity in copping with marginalization and cultural exclusion in the Western countries
in general and in Canada in particular.

10. Logan, Carolyn. Rebuilding Somali Political System: Growing new Roots in Indigenous
Realities, or Merely Reconstructing the Past? PhD Dissertation, Tufs University, 2002.
This dissertation considers the validity of two propositions aimed at the problem of institutional
weakness and failure in Africa using the case study of Somalia. The first proposition is that the
main root-cause of the collapse of the state in Somalia is because of mismatch of the informal
institutions of the society and the formal state institutions. This disconnect is the source of state’s
lack of legitimacy in the society. The second proposition is that this legitimacy can be strengthened
through indigenization of the political system. The “Hybrid” system of Somaliland’s legislative
council is studied as a case study. This study sheds new light on the possibility of reengineering
Somali political system that accommodates culture and traditions within modern state institutions.
Such studies that suggests accommodative approach of clanists, nationalist and Islamists are under-
explored in the literature and the analysis of Somali state crisis. This study is very important to
exploring reconstituting Somali state institutions.

11. Schwoebel, Mary Hope. Nation Building in the Lands of Somalis. PhD Dissertation,
George Mason University, 2007.
This study investigates how Somalis and their external actors have negotiated the convergence and
divergence between the indigenous and imported system of governance and conflict resolution. It
examines selected literature on nation-building, peace-building, democratization, and culture and
conflict resolution. A number of tension points are identified such as governance structure and
processes, justice structure and processes, the role of elders, the role of women, the role of civil
society, the role of religious leaders, and the position of minorities. It compares these tension
points in three state-building models in Somalia, “Somaliland” and Somali regional state of
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Ethiopia. This research is very critical to the exercises of the external actors and proposes to look
into Somalis with compounded lenses that offer new understanding of the Somali equation.

12. Reese, Scott Steven. Patricians of the Banadir: Islamic Learning, Commerce and Somali
Urban Identity in the 19th century. PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1996.
Most Somalis speak the same language and constitute one race; however, there are many
influential minorities with distinct culture. The “Banaderi” community which overwhelmingly
dwells in coastal cities of Mogadishu, Merca and Barawe is the most influential among these
minorities. This study examines the history of “Banaderi” communities and explores how they
maintained their “distinct” position against external influences through years. It is an excellent
history that draws substantially the oral collection of the historical data and contributes to the study
of the history of the Somali minorities. It departs from the historical narratives that emphasise the
homogeneity of the nation and downplay differences.

13. Toga, Dawit. Super power Rivalry and Regional Conflict in the Horn of Africa: Shifting
Alliances, Strategic choices, and Domestic politics. PhD dissertation, Columbia University,
2000.
This dissertation examines the rivalry of the USA and USSR in 1970s and the pattern of their
strategic interactions in the Horn of Africa who pursued policies dictated by the cold war
imperatives. These strategic interactions are examined to determine to what extent domestic
political factors and the constraints of the international system had influenced the policies of the
superpowers. It analysis divergent defence and diplomatic policies of the superpowers and how
were conditioned by the internal policies of Ethiopia and Somalia, the two African opponents. It
argues that Soviet Union was better situated than the USA constrained by its democratic intuitions.
This study offers necessary backdrop to the Cold War factor in the collapse of the Somali state. It
also gives very good setting for the Horn of African political predicament and economic
underdevelopment.

14. Le Sage, Andre. Somalia and the war on terrorism: Political Islamic movements and US-
counter terrorism efforts. DPhil Thesis, Cambridge University/Jesus College, 2005.
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This dissertation provides analysis of the different groups of the Islamic movements in Somalia in
the context of the current political situation of the collapsed state and the historical role of Islam in
Somali society and politics. The dissertation concludes with an assessment of the global threat they
pose in terms of terrorism, and the wider implications of the rise of political Islamic ideologies in
Somalia, as well as the extent to which they are being accounted for and addressed by U.S.
counter-terrorism operations. This research though provides preliminary findings on the political
Islam in Somalia, nevertheless, the time of this research of post 9/11 and the fear from US easy
branding of terrorism, may have prevented many important information on the subject matter.

15. Luling,
Virginia. Somali Sultanate: The Geledi City-State over 150 Years. London: Haan
Publications, 2002.

This book is the final product of a PhD dissertation research project conducted by the author in the
district of Afgoye located about 30 Km from the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, on the banks of
Shabelle River. It is based on the anthropological work among Geledi people and adjacent clans
dwelling in and around Afgoye. It is a classical anthropological perspective in studying the ways
in which the building-blocks of Somali traditional politics are clustered in broader groupings.
Luling outlines three basic models: the pastoral-nomadic, the agro-pastoral model and the urban
model. Luling uses the analysis of a public performance to disclose the complexity of social
relations, reconstruct the social fabric at the larger regional level, and investigate the ways in
which traditional relationships and cultural features reshape themselves in new and modern
contexts. Written in a clear and accessible style, this is an excellent and up-to-date introduction to
the ethnography of Somalia.

16. Cassanelli, Lee. The Shaping of Somali Society. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia
Press, 1982.

While most historical writings on Somalia confine their field in the colonial period, this book goes
far beyond, and reconstructs and interprets certain aspects of Somali history before the colonial
intrusion in the late 19th century. This study was originally conducted as part of PhD thesis in 1970
and 1971 and complemented with additional research in 1977. This book explores the less known
history of Somalia and in particular focuses on the region of Southern Somalia because of the
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paucity of early written records. Therefore, this book can be considered as much a study of
nomadic ethno-history and oral history. The author approached the study of Somalia's pastoral
history from a regional perspective, one which can incorporate many interacting clans in a single
framework. This approach is beneficial because of ecological and comparative literature on ever
moving nomads, and partly by the historical evidence of social and political interaction among
various groups. The author is one of the few pre-eminent western scholars on Somalia and his
research is considered a good basis for the study of the pre-colonial history of Somalia, less
explored so far.

17. Lewis, I. M. Pastoral Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.

This book is based primarily on field research carried out in Somaliland between September 1955
and June 1957 under the auspices of the Colonial Social Science Research Council and financed
from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. Colonial funding of this research shows that it
was serving well the colonial objectives in understanding the indigenous culture and authorities.
Most of the research time, the author spent with the nomadic Dulmahante and the Jibril Abokor
cultivators in the former British Somaliland. However, the finding of the research was awkwardly
generalized to all over Somalia. The title of the book “pastoral democracy” though expresses the
participatory approach of decision making in the clannish communities, nevertheless, it could be
considered a misnomer since half of the population-women-are totally excluded from that romantic
democracy. Lewis’s work receive a lot of criticism from revisionist scholars who accuse him of
pioneering academically political clanism in Somalia and dominant anthropological perspective
which analysis Somali debacle on one single factor-the clan factor. Moreover, recently, the author
became an adamant advocate for the separatist Somaliland.

18. Osman, Abdullahi and Souare, Issaka (ed.). Somalia at the crossroads: Challenges and
Perspectives on Reconstituting a Failed State. London: Adonis and Abby Publishers Ltd,
2007.

This book is a collection of academic papers and an outgrowth of a 2006 special issue of the
Journal African Renaissance focusing on Somalia and how to reconstruct it after nearly two
decades of armed conflicts and life without a central government. Contributors examine the
various issues that lie behind the current situation in Somalia, seeking answers for a number of
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questions. Why did the Somali state fail? What role did external actors and internal configurations
play in the state collapse? Why do various attempted reconciliations failed? Should Somalia be
reconstituted as one state or should more than one state be allowed to emerge? Abdullahi Osman,
the professor of a comparative politics at the University of Georgia and Issaka K. Souare, the
professor of Political science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, who edited the book
contributed also two papers and excellent introduction and conclusion chapters. Written with lucid
language and from different perspectives, contributors attempted to provide both descriptions of
the Somali state collapse and thought provoking way forward to the current Somali imbrologlio.