Challenges of

federalism system
and governance in
Somalia
A qualitative study on the implementation of the
federal system in Somalia.

Course: SKA301
15 credits
Student code:16002
Program: political science
University: MDU

Student: Ahmed Abdulahi Mohamed

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Abstract
The concept of federalism is nothing new but vague to some extent to developing countries.
This research work has intended to discuss its course revolving around the idea of federalism
and its application in Somalia. Thus, Somalia is a developing country rising from prolonged
suffering from civil wars and internal conflicts. This study aims to, through qualitative research
method consisting of five interviews, discuss the challenges of federalism faced by the govern-
ment of Somalia and deliver a clear understanding of its core reasons. The literature review has
manifested a significant amount of discussion over the concept of federalism, challenges of
federalism, its impact on the political aspects, etc. The findings have manifested that Somalia
is a state where federalism is unclear with its meaning and activities. Hence, a clear idea about
the federal system and its application in Somalia is precisely discussed in this regard.

Keywords: Federalism, Governance in Somalia, Clan Conflict, Federal System, Challenges in

Federalism, Qualitative Data, Methodology, Federal states.
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Table of Contents

List of abbreviations .................................................................................................................. 3

Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Background of the Research ...................................................................................... 4

1.2 Purpose and Issues ..................................................................................................... 5

1.3 Aim and Objectives ................................................................................................... 5

1.4 Research Objectives and Questions ........................................................................... 5

1.5 Research Relevance ................................................................................................... 6

1.6 Research outline .............................................................................................................. 6

Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................................ 8

2.1 Inception Of Federalism In Somalia ................................................................................ 8

2.2 The Impacts And Changes Brought By Federalism In Somalia .................................... 10

2.3 The Challenges Caused by Federalism in Somalia ....................................................... 11

2.4 The Root Cause of The Challenges and Look for Appropriate Mitigating Strategies .. 13

2.5 Literature Gap ................................................................................................................ 14

Method and material ............................................................................................................. 14

3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 14

3.2 Research Philosophy...................................................................................................... 15

3.3 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 15

3.4 Research approach: ........................................................................................................ 15

3.5 Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 15

Interview Guide/Survey form/Analysis Template .............................................................. 16

3.6 Sampling ........................................................................................................................ 16

3.8 Interview design ............................................................................................................ 17

3.9 Data processing and analysis ......................................................................................... 18

3.10 Research ethics considerations .................................................................................... 18

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3.11 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 18

Chapter 4: Results ................................................................................................................. 19

4.2. Findings and Discussion ............................................................................................... 23

Chapter 5: Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 28

5.1 Link between the literature and the objectives: ............................................................. 29

5.2 Recommendation ........................................................................................................... 30

5.3. Limitation ..................................................................................................................... 30

References............................................................................................................................... 31

Appendix: ................................................................................................................................ 34

Consent form: .......................................................................................................................... 41

List of abbreviations
UNOSOM: United Nations Operation in Somalia
UN: United Nations
Federal government: distribution of power between two forms of government.
FAND: Foreign Affairs National Defence
AU: African Union
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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Research

The word federalism refers to the agreement between two or more political entities to form a
starting point for the union. Federalism involves at least two autonomous stages of agreement
between different governments to share their federal institutions while retaining some
authorities (Abubakar, 2016). Somalia, a country located in the Eastern horn of Africa,
achieved its freedom from Italy and British dominance by the year 1960. Africa’ most
culturally homogeneous part had faced many hurdles in the road of becoming self-sufficient.
Since its independence in 1960, Somalia has faced several civil wars, clan conflicts, secessions,
and the dominance of Al- Shabab. By 1991, the barre region was badly affected by the conflicts
of clan-based groups supported by Lybia and Ethiopian (Jalloh, 2021). This characterised
Somalia as a failed state, while in 1992, UNOSOM was created by the UN security council for
peacekeeping. In 1993 a merciless mass killing took place, which led the UN to withdraw from
Somalia by 1995.

The study intends to explore the opportunities, perspectives and issues of federalism in Somalia
(Reliefweb. Int, 2021). The actual establishment of federalism in Somalia started in 2012 when
Hassan Sheikh and his Ministry built a regional state involving four significant regions, such
as Galmudug, Hirshabeelle, South West and Jubba land (Fidow, 2010). After years of conflict
among different clans and the political variance, the nation decided to opt for federalism to
develop a territory aided with international community support. Puntland and Somaliland had
already established themselves with administered affairs.

Therefore, the federal system was adopted to meet the clans’ requirement though
characteristically different from the world federal system (Abdallah and Abukar, 2021). For a
prolonged period, Somalia had witnessed political, social and demographic changes, which
eventually caused struggle for the inhabitants and the societal structure (Dahir and Sheikh Ali,
2021). Federalism was the only solution to resolve the conflict created during the civil wars
between various tribes for power and governance.

Many policymakers have realised that federalism can unite the Somalian population and end
Somalia’s prolonged suffering due to Civil war conflicts and internal vandalism. (Abdallah and
Abukar, 2021). However, due to the incorporation of federalism, Somalis have witnessed
challenges with a more significant impact on the security of regions like Ethiopia, Kenya,
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Uganda (Isak and Ali, 2019). The challenges have impacted the growth and opportunity of
Somalia as a country subjected to better argumentative evaluation.

1.2 Purpose and Issues

The problem statement involves federalism’s problem with its inception in Somalia. Despite
its impacts and positive outcomes, there are challenges and problem within the system and
governance that requires thorough review and discussion (Abdallah, and Abukar, 2021).
Another problem is that the reasons are pretty strong though not discussed enough, which
eventually failed to create awareness among the Somalis (Reliefweb. Int, 2021). Therefore, the
research could conduct a thorough discussion over the challenges of federalism and governance
while stating certain mitigating aspects simultaneously (Ligawa, 2017).

1.3 Aim and Objectives

This research focuses on the challenges of federalism and governance in Somalia. The
discussion would revolve around investigating the current state of federalism in Somalia and
provocative factors creating challenges for the government. It also aims at suggesting remedies
and solutions to the governments to deal with the challenges of federalism.

1.4 Research Objectives and Questions

Identifying objectives is similarly essential along with the aim, and the below objectives
effectively form a strong base for literature.

v To discuss the inception of federalism in Somalia.

v To understand the impacts and changes brought by federalism in Somalia.
v To highlight the challenges caused by federalism in Somalia.
v To find the root cause of the challenges and look for appropriate mitigating strategies.

Equal to the objectives, the research questions can direct the research work towards its achieve-
ment of purpose. With the help of research questions, the core answers of the research work
can be delivered. Thus, the research questions are;

v Why was federalism applied in the Somalia Republic in the first place?
v What impact does it serve to both the common people and the government of Somalia?
v What are the challenges of federalism that have occurred in Somalia since 2004?
v How have these challenges impacted the growth and prosperity of the country so far?
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1.5 Research Relevance

Somalia is a country that has suffered too much due to internal conflict and continuous tribal
squabble. Currently, federalism has been identified as an effective strategy to keep Somalia
united while the different tribes and regional political parties continuously create chaos. In
Somalia, several challenges were uprooted due to the application of federalism (Livingston,
2021). This has referred to the fact that the power also gets divided with the Federal
governments, which becomes unacceptable to Somalia’s political parties and populations.

A different perspective towards federalism and its application in the Somalia Republic is
served. The gap in the literature stating aspects delivered so far and facts for the ordinary people
to know further can be highlighted. Hence, this research aims to fill the gap in the literature to
understand governments’ attitudes and the conflicts revolving around the concept of
federalism. With the help of this research work, a detailed discussion and insight regarding the
challenges that federalism has created in Somalia will be delivered.

Moreover, this research would contribute to developing a clear understanding of federalism

and help investigate how to create strategic action to mitigate the challenges. Hence, this
research will cover federalism theory and the classical federalism theory as a part of the
research. Under primary research, the qualitative data collection method will be adopted to
collect relevant data from informants to understand their perceptions and answer the research
questions.

1.6 Research outline

The research outlined would deliver a brief idea about each chapter contained in this
dissertation to deliver a clear concept about the content.

Chapter 1: This is the first chapter of the dissertation, known as the introduction. As the name
suggests, it introduces a significant background of the research topic and the research aim,
objectives and research questions to form the following research work with relevant literature.

Chapter 2: This chapter is called a literature review, where an appropriate amount of literature
regarding the topic will be incorporated, explaining different aspects of federalism challenges
in Somalia and the impact of federalism.

Chapter 3: The third chapter incorporates the methodology and techniques of collecting data
from different sources. The chapter would manifest the research’s philosophy, design, and
approach to collect data while also stating the sources of data to be collected and analysed.
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Chapter 4: This is the fourth chapter, where the data analysis will be conducted with the help
of the qualitative data collected from the relevant sources, like government bodies,
administrative departments of Somalia, and so. The chapter will provide a detailed discussion
of the collected data and findings.

Chapter 5: This is the last chapter, the conclusion, which would carry the summer relative
assessment of the entire dissertation. It would link objectives with collected data and the
literature for justifying the relevance of the data and its effectiveness in the context of the topic.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Inception Of Federalism In Somalia

Federalism is the central conception of Somalia contemporary, and the inception of federalism
needs to be explained by focusing on what federalism means to Somalia currently. The
definition of federalism can be delivered because it is an ambiguous notion and the relationship
between two parallel power of the state that varies from each other in different countries. The
scenario in Somalia has manifested the connection between the central government and the
federal state members without any specification of each level of government (Cannon, 2020).
As per article 54, the allocation of powers is the resources to be negotiated and agreed upon by
the Federal Government and the terrorist member’s state.

This regulation can be applied except for Foreign Affairs National Defence citizens and my
immigration and monetary policies.

Question is also rising regarding federalism in Somalia, whether it is a new concept or

not. Concerning discussing federalism in Somalia, it is essential to highlight that many have
tried many governance systems to bring independence since 2004. In 2004 the country
officially adopted a federal system that highlighted the lack of trust among Somali people.
Somalia has an outstanding record of abusing resource-sharing aspects in political
representation and power-sharing by many higher-ranking government individuals (Dahir and
Sheikh Ali, 2021). The Welfare services were significantly exploited. The local constituent has
never received any national resources. Therefore, it is observed that federalism had been
identified as a significant way of simultaneously resolving such issues and shaping Somali
politics.

The federal system had been identified as a long-standing dream for the political leaders and
the tribes to taste independence after applying different methods for accumulating fairly share
of power and wealth. The independent constitution party first advocated on behalf of federalism
in 1948 in Somalia.

As per the party’s agenda, they believe that due to the different primitive tribal systems and the
lack of trust among so many people, federalism is the only way to build a constitution based
on the decentralisation of the federal system and create a democratic autonomy to accumulate
various Somalia regions (Gacal Alasow And Bilgin, 2020). Despite the realisation, democratic
independence was not achieved until the next thirty years as the political atmosphere was
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against the entire setup. For instance, many political leaders in Somalia considered federalism
for the federal system as a conspiracy to divide the country and the unity of the Somali people.
At present, Somalia is entitled to witness the social, political and demographic changes
achieved after a long battle of political discrepancies.

The main reason for this trust or lack of confidence among the different tribes was the fight for
power and governance during the civil war. With the application of federalism, the Somalian
government or Federal government believed that they could bring back the unity of the tribes.

The critical promoter, a supporter of federalism in Somalia, was identified with Puntland,
Jubaalant and Southwest of the different states of Somaliland. The rationale for that firm
support is embedded with the ancient grievances faced by the various tribes based on the
violation of human rights and peripheral marginalisation of civic rights (Hallerberg, 2010). The
primary purpose of federalism in Somalia was to create one city-state and concentrate on
centralising the power resources in a single source, but that did not end on a positive note
during the ’80s and ’90s (Gure et al. 2016).

Another reason for the proponent of federalism in Somalia was a resource through the academic
circles and the practitioners who believed in peacebuilding within structures civil society and
represent themselves at think tanks. The practitioners and academics surgical have
concentrated and tried to highlight the reason by forming an argument advocating the
presupposition of Somalia’s divided society.

Due to the diverse background of the clans’ grievances, unsettled scores, and success in his
tendencies and civil war, the decentralised governance system created the total cost that the
federation of the federal system could only resolve.

Since the adaptation of federalism within the governance system, the core complexity had been
disclosed and racing debates and arguments within the Somali society. There was an unclear
conception about federalism and its application in Somalian society. In contrast, how
federalism could resolve the decentralised societal structure and transit it from the 45 clan
system into a single resource was also not apparent to the people of Somali. As the state
government institutions were still healing due to the devastation of the civil war, the state-
building process became difficult to achieve due to the mistrust of people and the different
clans of Somalia (Mamman, 2021). Hence, to clearly understand the reason for applying
federalism in Somalia, it can be delivered that federalism in the Somalian context was a new
system and contested simultaneously, which created complexity against the powerful system
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of governance. Federalism was also proposed for resolving the political challenges and
separate powers in every level of management or government institution so that a combined
decision for any emergency state of affairs can be taken.

2.2 The Impacts And Changes Brought By Federalism In Somalia

To discuss the impact of federalism in Somalia, it is essential that the drafting of the
constitution should be explained along with other aspects. The effect is highlighted through
the current situation of the federalism of the federal system in Somalia. Currently, the Federal
government and the member states operate in Quasi autonomous jurisdictions. The Federal
government was granted the Exclusive power of Foreign Affairs monthly policies and
immigration, but these states in Somalia have taken the authorities to themselves. Each state
member can support their tax revenues and supplementary due to the foreign affair
management (Mohamed Haji Ingiriis, 2018). Another impact is identified through the
expenditure of the Federal Government and the member’s state dominated by the two different
functions such as administration and security.

On the other hand, minimal capital is allocated to economic activities, including transportation,
public utility, agriculture, education, and health, due to the Federal Government and its system
application. With the application of the Federal system, the government has started to witness
several improvements in Somalia’s function and economic standard. As the clan conflicts and
the inner turmoils had been reduced, the Federal government was mainly dependent on two
main sources for their economic development: international trade taxes and foreign aid (Noiset
and Rider, 2010).

To understand the impact in an obvious manner, it is also significant to concentrate on the

recent development that would manifest the changes made with the country and the Somali
society due to the application of federalism. The federal system adopted changes observed in
the political front resolving certain issues. Moreover, the federal system also changed the
political front in the face of elections as the lower house of the parliament was successfully
held in 2016 utilising a multistage process. This process involved selecting candidates for
elections based on the traditional elders from each clan and creating a new parliamentary
dominance. The government transferred the leadership in 2017, finalising the process by 2020
(Gure et al. 2016). Another change in the constitutional practice is due to the federalism
concept was identified through the progress in defining the respective functions of the Federal
and state members and their governments.
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These functions involved the changes in security measures for Somalia’s national security
architecture, Education system where the functionality is turned into the responsibility of the
Federal government to deliver education to the remotest place of Somalia. Changes in the stack
and specific legislation and administration were also highlighted since its inception in 2004.
Despite the changes, the legislation did not have the power to decide which government or
administration would be responsible for a certain level of modification in the constitution
(Mamman, 2021).

2.3 The Challenges Caused by Federalism in Somalia

Along with several changes in society and its infrastructure, federalism has caused several
challenges that are also important to be highlighted in this regard. The challenges related to
federalism in Somalia are discussed in the following manner.

Power-sharing Disputes:

Before applying the federal system, Somalia witnessed the dominance of different glands and
the fight for the right of power among the clan members. after the Federal government started
its function, the main challenge was highlighted in power-sharing disputes. Somalia has been
carrying a hybrid political system that was very difficult to rearrange and make others agree
with the application of the federal system.

The current Governmental system lacks in clearly manifesting each authoritative institution’s
roles and responsibilities, which led the entire system to face a significant conflict of major
political actors and stakeholders (Mohamed Haji Ingiriis, 2018). Therefore, the dispute related
to power division and the Federal Government of Somalia and requires solution and
negotiation. The agreement for power-sharing was developed before the civil war, and clan
conflicts took place in Somalia, and the agreement involved incentives to harmonise feasible
and political stability, which was the prior requirement of the system in the first place.

Security issues:

The significant challenge related to the federal system application is the increasing security
problem As the Federal government is incapable of running its errands all over the nation due
to the unclear role of the Federal state-making. It is also a fact that most of the lands are still
under the control of Al Shabaab that significantly poses a major challenge for the Federal
government itself. Despite the newly gained liberation due to the federalism within the port of
Kismayo in 2012, the rage and brutality of Al Shabaab have tried to create a controlling
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atmosphere over the local government structure (Cannon, 2020). Moreover, the strategy of
exploiting the tribe partnership and the targeted killing of local officers have created significant
pressure on the neutral federalism in Somalia.

Clan conflict:

One of the main forces of challenge towards the federalism in Somalia was the clan conflict
that was continuously spreading. As per the draught constitution, two or more regions can
easily form a state, but the clients were not interested in such an offer. Developing a member
state was impossible as clients were not ready to give up their self-powers and indulged in
debates and clashes between tribes that significantly created chaos in the region. Moreover, in
some specific regions, the clans claimed to be the native and classes were seen between those
considered newcomers due to massive displacement from their contentions (Rotondo,
2012). Therefore, some of the clan’s efforts to reunite the entire process and successfully
implement federalism went into vain as the natural assets were unknown reachable for the
federal state to become strong in such a situation.

Muslim countries influencing federalism of Somalia:

The external affairs have been significantly influencing the Somali political affairs of practices
among the internal conflicts. The contribution of the Muslim countries in such areas cannot be
denied as the countries like the Middle East, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey was very much involved
in taking an interest in Somalia’s internal affairs. The first being Turkey is one of the influential
countries with a significant leader who played a role in responding to the latest feminine in
2011 and consequently contributed to the company’s restructuring of its effort towards
federalism (Livingston, 2021). Due to the Muslim Brotherhood, the countries like Egypt, Qatar
and Iraq at the same time took an interest in increasing significant rivalry with Ethiopia and
conducted brutalism in those regions of the country as a token of rebellion against the concept
of a federal state.

International community challenges:

International communities are also significantly liable for creating challenges for federalism in
Somalia as the intervention of complicated and bilateral countries with individual requirements
has increased the government’s expectations. The biggest challenge is identified with the
mandatory effect between AU and the UN practices and functions in the same context. The
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international communities are fighting over the federal-state policies. Due to this, Somalia was
in a situation that could only provide the international community with a part of Somalia’s
contribution to their requirements. (Gacal Alasow And Bilgin, 2020).

Including the challenges mentioned above, there are other significant issues that federalism
caused in Somalia, such as regional politics and the increasing conflict between different state
members and leaders. Based on the challenges, it is important to identify the root cause and
how these challenges can be controlled in the coming time needs to be detected in this regard.

2.4 The Root Cause of The Challenges and Look for Appropriate Mitigating Strategies
Again, the root cause needs to be identified first and understand why federalism has faced
challenges and a series of complexities in Somalia since its inception. As discussed previously,
the root cause of such challenges was revolving around clan conflict, unpleasant power
distribution, the inability of the locals to understand the concept and importance of Federal
state or system, and the brutality of Al-Shabaab in the outside area of Somali and other relevant
member states that created a state of fear (Ligawa, 2017). These are the significant root cause
of the challenges and their implication over the growth and prosperity of the Federal State of
Somalia. To deliver a relevant answer to the mitigating approach or strategies, it is observed
that the challenges of the root causes need to be evaluated first.

The mitigation strategy for the clan conflicts can be considered by selecting clan leaders for
the federal state or members state elections. In this manner, the clan leaders of the clans can be
associated with the decision-making authority of the Federal Government. The modifications
can also be created considering their output of generalised perspective.

Most importantly, this could diminish the lack of information and awareness about federalism
among the clan members, which significantly reduced their conflicts (Reliefweb. Int, 2021).
The solution for the power distribution disputes is also important to be detected as the power
distribution can be resolved by focusing on the development of three to four members States
who will be the primary source of power allocation. These member states will be responsible
for dividing the powers following the requirement to the clan leaders to ensure that each area
of an administrative infrastructure is being monitored well enough. Therefore, the challenges
are significantly impacting the growth and prosperity of Somalia, while the positive impacts
are also important to be highlighted (Gure et al. 2016). Economic development is one of the
significant benefits or advantages of federalism in Somalia as it is currently experiencing the
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opportunity as it has widened the path for economic development and foreign investment at the
same time.

2.5 Literature Gap

Though the literature has provided a significant and tremendous amount of information
regarding federalism, its implementation and challenges faced in the Somalian region, there is
a certain type of literature gap that needs to be highlighted in this regard.

The literature gap can be identified in manifesting the root cause of challenges for the federal
system in Somalia. This part of the literature could be more enriched and provide more intense
information about what and why federalism and its concept is considered a threat by the
Somalian Republic.

On the other hand, the impact of federalism in Somalia and its development of changes could
be more informative and crucial information could have been incorporated regarding the future
developments that the Somalian government has proposed and the changes that have impacted
the current situation. Therefore, despite the literature being an informative piece of the
discussion, more intense literature could have been incorporated more effectively.

Method and material

3.1 Introduction
This chapter contains the methods and techniques of data collection and its analysis. The
methodology would discuss the methods and techniques used to accumulate relevant data and
justify the research topic. Therefore, the research would involve introducing and selecting the
different methods and data collection techniques to ensure all the criteria are met. Hence, this
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chapter will discuss research philosophy, design, approach, data collection, methods and
sampling, etc.

3.2 Research Philosophy

The research philosophy refers to the development of a strong foundation for the research work
to be built upon, and it also provides a proper framework through which the research should be
able to collect relevant data. There are different research philosophies, such as positivism,
interpretivism, and realism (Abdullah, 2021). In this regard, I have concentrated on adopting
the positivism philosophy as it would help me extract the right amount of information regarding
the research topic without disturbing the natural phenomena of the data. On the other hand,
positivism philosophy would also provide a great exposure to extract the data subjectively so
that the data could be utilised in its original form to answer the research questions.

3.3 Research Design

The research design in a research work holds the utmost importance as it helps me make the
framework of methods and include the design for the data collection process. On the other
hand, the research design allows me to select the appropriate research method and set a proper
background for future research. Several types of Research designs exist, such as descriptive
Research Design, Exploratory Research Design and Explanatory research design (Aniyie,
2021). In the context of the research work, the descriptive research design is adopted as this
process design would help systematically and specifically describe a phenomenon, population,
or situation to extract the right amount of data.

3.4 Research approach:

The research approach refers to the systematic framework that involves a broad approach
towards involving detailed data considering the different data collection processes analysis and
application of those analyses to extract the answers. Two types of research approaches can be
identified such as deductive research approach and inductive research approach. Here, I have
identified and adopted the deductive research approach. It helps extract the right amount of
information from the existing data sources and does not rely on new or future assumptions
regarding the topic (Anshari, 2017).

3.5 Data Collection

Collecting data is the most significant and crucial practice within a research work, and this
research has chosen a research method of qualitative nature. There are variet of ways to gather
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information including questionnaire, observation or interviews. In this empirical study, the

qualitative research was conducted under as the primary data collection process, where the
interviews were conducted with the selected informants. This approach was chosen because it
is aligned with the aim and research question of the study and the in depth nature and detail
rich information that is sought. Selecting informants and data sources in this qualitative study
required a selection of people who could increase understanding of the area that was being
studied.

I have therefore, selected informants from different political divide: Those who are pro-
government and those against to get variation and understand why Somalia faces challenges
with federalism. Apart from this, informants are from different clan systems as this matters for
all functions of society in Somalia. These informants were selected to question the current
status of federalism in Somalia and the future improvements or plans that the government and
the federal system have thought about. Number of available informants were five.
Recommended sampling size for qualitative case studies is at least five participants (Creswell,
J. W., Hanson, W.E., Clark Plano,V.L., & Morales, A., 2007).

Interview Guide/Survey form/Analysis Template

3.6 Sampling
Sampling is one of the crucial aspects of a research method where I tend to select several
informants to collect data from different sources and analyse data to conclude the research
work. The different types of sampling include random sampling, probability sampling, non-
probability sampling, systematic sampling, clustered sampling, etc. Concerning this research
work, I focused on adopting probability sampling as the sampling would deliver a clear idea
about probable sources of primary data and helped me to collect the required amount of
information from a probable data source or informants simultaneously (Blokker, 2012). Most
importantly, with probability sampling, the result would be able to collect the probable answer
of the research questions and the reason for failure to face federalism challenges
simultaneously. Hence, I would select a 10 informants for the interview and data collection.

These informants were selected on the basis of their educational background and for the reason
that they all have significant knowledge about the somali history. Moreover, they have
previously contributed to the studies on Somalia that are relevant for this study and are
therefore believed to provide well-defined data that answers the questions of this study. It was
 17

deemed vital to select people who can increase understanding of the subject when choosing
participants of qualitative studies Here, 10 informants were approached at the same time and
offered equal chance to respond to the queries but only five responses came back. Therefore,
the study has focused on these five responses.

3.8 Interview design

Three informants were interviewed in person while the other two were interviewed per
telephone as they were out of the country that the interview were conducted. In spite of that,
the data were collected through a digital recorder in all the interviews conducted. Responses
from the participants were recorded separately and stored as a raw file.

A semi structure interview was chosen for this study since questions were previously prepared
but also the informants were given room to express their views and allow room for two-ways
communication. One negative aspect to this type of interview is that it is time consuming and
detail rich. However, the richness of details can also be regarded positive. Conducting phone
interview has shown to be positive since it requires less time and cost to set up the meeting as
there is no need to arrange a location and transportation. This is particularly beneficial when
the participants are located far apart, as for our case in different countries. The disadvantage is
however the limitation in regards observation of body language. The interviews conducted in
person had an observation component whereby I was able to observe the body language and
facial interactions.

The issues that form the structured parts of this interview consists of open-ended and closed-
ended questions. The questions that will be asked are the following:

1. Why do you think federalism was implemented in Somalia in the first place?

2. What are the positive and negative impacts of federalism in Somalia since its inception?
3. What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running the political interface
in Somalia?
4. How is the government of Somalia taking action to resolve the challenges emerged
against federalism?
5. How can the future political scenario of Somalia get impacted if the challenges are not
dealt with practical solutions at present?
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3.9 Data processing and analysis

All the interviews were recorded separately on digital recorder. After transcribing the responses
into a documented format, the data analysis was conducted. I have adopted the deductive
principal when analysing the data collected for the purpose that it is aligned with the aim as I
am conducting this study to understand the widely accepted facts/premises as to why Somali
faces challenges with federalism. Critical and thematic analysis was done to critically assess
the research responses and reach a conclusion for the research questions.

3.10 Research ethics considerations

As this research involves primary data to be evaluated and collected, its legal considerations
must be provided in the same context. Therefore, the ethical aspects below were considered
while collecting data.
• Firstly, the purpose of the data collection and its use was explained to the informants.
• All informants were provided with the opportunity to answer as per their will.
• The informants were offered the opportunity to withdraw their participants at any point
of Data Collection.
• The confidentiality of each participant was and will be maintained, and their name or
any personal information will not be shared with third-party sources (García Herrera
and Maestro Buelga, 2013).
• The responses was collected in an encrypted digital recording device so that the data
will not be violated or contaminated.
• The data remained under strict supervision until the completion of the research work.
• All the data will be destroyed after completing the data analysis process.

3.11 Summary
To summarise the entire chapter, it is important to state that the methodology chapter has
contained different methods and steps involved in the data collection. The adoption of
positivism philosophy would help the research work to collect data objectively, while the
descriptive design would systematically evaluate the information related to the topic. Hence, I
can appropriately address the previously developed research questions with qualitative data
collection and analysis.
 19

Chapter 4: Results
This is the fourth chapter of the dissertation, which contains the findings of the qualitative data
collection from the selected sources of information. This chapter will also discuss the findings
to reach a certain conclusion. The sampling section has manifested that I have concentrated on
conducting qualitative data collection involving different administrative individuals of Somalia
and the suitable amount of information regarding the research topic and address the research
questions. Hence, the below segment would deliver a clear idea about the data collected from
different informants.

In the context of this research work, the research has focused on five main questions presented
by two different administrative heads of the Somalian federal system. The sponsors are being
recorded and discussed to reach the findings. The first respondent was secretary of the political
part Wadajir party has provided his response to the first question, “Why do you think
federalism was implemented in Somalia in the first place?” that revolves around the reason
behind the application of federalism in Somalia. The respondent has stated that Somalia had a
central power that was considered as a one-person role that created several problems among
the different glands, and the society was not getting benefited from the regulatory opportunities
that the central government at the time was offering. He has also stated that all the clans and
other inhabitants joined hands with different other countries and led the power to create the
federal system. One of the other reasons that he has highlighted is that the federal system was
considered an alternative for an early system that did not abuse the rights of the common people
in Somalia.

The second respondent Somali, believed that the history of Somalia is not hidden as Somali
people were fighting with each other over religious issues and for the federal system that mainly
represents the sources of conflict over land and ownership. Due to the prolonged influence of
civil war, the Somalian people were very desperate for local control of their political scenario.
The decentralisation of the federal system was considered the main source of their demand.

Most importantly, we also believe that due to the decentralising a characteristic Federal
Government has been evident in creating a positive impact over the minds of so many people
as the previous government who distributed power was very bad at their job.

Concerning the third respondent who is also another well-known administrative associate and
previous minster of religion, stated that the lack of trust among the Somali people and the
conflict due to regional powers were so much overpowering for the community people that a
 20

source of protection was required and for that reason, people tend to fall for the federalism
concept and implementation of federalism was the result of it. The fourth respondent has also
delivered almost the same response about the application of federalism in Somalia that the
Somalian people were fighting with each other, leading to a certain depth of abysmal.

To ensure a better future and to stop the communal conflict, the Somalian people were eager
to seek help from outside sources that jointly gave birth to the concept of federalism in Somalia.
The fifth respondent from the same administrative Institution of Somalia Federal Government
and anti international intervation has manifested his understanding of federalism and its
concept in Somalia and what it has delivered so far? Most importantly, he believes that the
opposibng parties that did not support a united power were the driving force for the somali
region to impose the federal system.

In the course of discussing the second question, “What are the positive and negative impacts
of federalism in Somalia since its inception?”- the first respondent has asserted that the
concept of federalism has certain disadvantages; for example, people in Somalia does not have
a proper understanding of the term, and due to the half-knowledge, the system has become a
clan-based member state. These member states have created different Ministries, and the power
is also divided into those viral ministries.

Eventually, these have created a significant impact on the economic and military power of the
region and emerged as a threat to the nation’s interest and security. On the other hand, the
respondent has also manifested the advantages of federalism which involves the people getting
to experience the power from a short distance, and the clans had the privilege to read their
respective areas with more opportunity for the people living in the country.

The second respondent has also manifested the negative impact at first, which involves the lack
of knowledge regarding federalism among some people and the establishment of federalism
among the clan system. He also believes that their advantage of the federal system involves
dispersing the power among the states and reducing centralised power distribution. According
to the views of the third respondent (minster of Region Admintrative Associate and previous),
the beneficial aspects of federalism are the balance system and the regional administration that
the decentralised government leads.

Moreover, the negative effects of federalism in terms of tribal disintegration and lack of
knowledge. The fourth respondent (Government project leader Biyoole) has also provided his
idea about the positive and negative impacts of federalism that included the power-sharing and
 21

balance system, while the negative impact is the lack of knowledge which led the entire system
to face challenges from the clan member states.

The fifth respondent (administrative Institution of Somalia Federal Government and anti
international intervation) has provided his opinion in the same context. At the same time, the
positive impact of federalism is identified with the future possibilities of better governance and
power distribution. Still, the negative impact is that it could work as a volcano for future power
within the societal structure. He also believes that there are no positive in implementing
federalism in Somalia which only increases the internal conflicts and creates distance between
the politics and common people.

To discuss the third question, “What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running
the political interface in Somalia?”, the five informants have delivered their responses in the
following manner.

Concerning this question, “What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running
the political interface in Somalia?” the first respondent has provided a clear idea about which
challenges faced due to the federal system in the political interface are the lack of knowledge
about the federal system and its concept where the government and the member states do not
have a clear idea about their rights and their responsibilities at the same time. Another major
challenge in this regard is the lack of security in Somalia and the inability of the Somalian Clan
members to understand their rights and responsibilities.

This makes the people of Somalia unable to vote while the climate policies are more complex
in creating a barrier for the government to implement the federalism concept with a specific
goal. The second respondent has provided his response in the same question but differently. He
believed that Civic education Is one of the major aspects are the tools that could educate the
Somalian people and the major challenge for federalism to be successfully implemented in
Somalia is that majority of people lives in the rural area of Somalia where the concept is not
being talked about or discussed must among people to understand its applicability and benefits.
The third respondent has discussed the challenges in the same line as he believes that the lack
of knowledge in the context of federalism causes the major challenge.

Apart from this, the lack of robust Somali working procedures is another reason the federal
government faces issues. The fourth and the fifth respondent have delivered a clear idea about
the clan system and the inability of some portion of the Somali population to accept the
application of the federal system instead of clan dominance. Most importantly, he believes that
 22

the lack of proper leadership and political handling system creates challenges, and the
politicians have to suffer due to this.

The informants have delivered the following responses to the fourth question, “How the
government of Somalia is taking action to resolve the challenges that emerged against
federalism?” the informants have delivered the following responses.

Firstly, the respondent has realised that to implement a proper federal system with effective
outcomes, the leaders in the government needs to understand the areas that are more vulnerable
to security issues and gain control over the regions security to ensure that the federal system is
well-accepted. Apart from this, it is also important for the government to take the responsibility
to educate people about the concept of the federal system and its benefits in the future course
of action, along with the applicable laws and regulations.

The second respondent concerning the same question has provided an insight into how the
knowledge and information about the federal system can be increased among the specific
population of Somalia. He believes that the majority of Somali people still live in rural areas
which lack the proper infrastructure to provide the information on knowledge regarding the
federal system, and it also requires a national dialogue to deliver the role of national and local
authorities in controlling the revenues of the natural resources and implement it for the
betterment of the society as well.

Moreover, it is also realised that the third respondent has provided another inside in the same
context by focusing on the ability of the Somali government to control the current situation
while it is also the failure of the government to address the challenges by taking proper action.
Therefore, the current government needs to back up their resources and focus on the weekend
years of the system to ensure your future mitigation of the impending challenges.

The fourth and fifth informants shared almost the same response towards this question, and it
is realised that both the informants believed that the clan-based member states and the federal
system itself need to collaborate and address the social issues at the forest and which would
help in winning the trust of the common people. Moreover, the fifth respondent has also stated
that he believes the challenges could not be resolved and this is an impossible project for the
government additionally. This would lead to a better perspective towards the areas that need
modification, and the idea of the federal system and its function can also be incorporated within
the common people to mitigate the challenge.
 23

The fifth question, “How can the future political scenario of Somalia get impacted if the
challenges are not dealt with practical solutions at present?” is being addressed by the
informants by delivering their idea of federalism and its functionalities in the region. Therefore,
the first respondent has discussed that in conformity with the second respondent, The lack of
strong commitment from the federal government and federalism and its function will not be
flooded within the region, resulting in a lack of trust and preferences from the
residents. Suppose the government fails to explain the benefits and advantages of federalism
in Somalia; in that case, the local inhabitants will struggle to cope with the new changes made
in the political scenario and the governmental structures. The respdent also realised that the
strategy and the application of the activities related to the federal system, the government needs
to increase the knowledge and understanding of the federal facilities among the common people
so that a clear view and the transparent idea about the federal system and its future benefits can
be incorporated within the people of Somalia. Most importantly, the government needs to work
on the education and knowledge regarding the federal system and clearly explain the impact of
the federal system overpowering the economy and the role of distribution. This would help
reduce the negative impacts of the federal system from the political scenario in the future. The
third respondent concerning the same question has delivered a clear idea about Somalia’s
political situation. He believes that the scenario has been quite complex since its inception after
the civil war. The political scenario would get a positive impact if the Somali government could
implement a better explanation of the requirement for the federal government and convince the
community people regarding its future benefits and ability to sustain the political warfare.
According to the last two informants, the impact of the federal system on the political scenario
in the future will be great in terms of influence over the societal structure and changes
incorporated within the governance system. The fifth respondent has specifically highlighted
that there is no practicle solution for the challenges that will lead to future chaos. More of a
clan conflict could be registered with unbalanced wars. The federal system would also be able
to bring changes in internal conflicts by reconstructing the member’s state and their
responsibilities so far.

4.2. Findings and Discussion

Based on the above discussion of the qualitative data analysis collected from different
informants who were approached through phone calls, the questions were emailed to the
informants and their consent forms. The findings can be identified in terms of the fact that
federalism is a vague concept in Somalia as the Somalian government has failed to explain the
 24

conceptual idea of the federal system and its benefits for the societal development among the
common people of Somalia.

This has led to a critical situation where half of the population are totally unaware of the Federal
Government and its function along with its activities that could benefit them in future while
the other half being in a fake situation pause is half-knowledge about the federal system, which
is more dangerous than no knowledge (Jenkins and Roscoe, 2014). The finding has also
manifested that the informants are quite vocal about the federal system’s statement and
delivered a quite clear idea about why the federal system was implemented in Somali in the
first place. Most of the informants have significantly supported the fact that due to the Clans
clashes and the inability of member states to control the chaos within the region, external and
international support from different countries were required, and for that reason, a federal
system was developed within the governance practices.

A majority of informants have also stated that with the help of the Federal Government and
federalism, the government could control the conflicts, which was next to impossible before
applying the federal system. (se appendex1-questions and responsese from interviewa)

“Without a strong commitment from the federal government, federalism will not flourish in
Somalia. Federalism will continue to be a source of both harmony and struggle. And that is to
wait if not come with strategy and pure politics. In the meantime, it won’t be easy, but eventu-
ally, it will resolve itself. The government must also work to increase knowledge and under-
standing of the federal meaning and implement Somali must be implemented so that the power,
economy, roles distribution will be clear and distinct- second respondent (Somali national TV
and radio)”

On the other hand, the findings have also collected information about how the federal system
is evident in positively or negatively impacting the region or its political functions. Many
informants have provided their idea about the impacts while most of them have observed the
fact that the positive impacts are balanced in the governance practices and a good social
structure and development while the negative impact is also there that creates a significant
influence over the idea regarding the wake concepts and ideas about federalism and its activity
within the society, inability to understand the future impact of federalism (Robinson, 2021).
Another significant aspect that the findings have highlighted is the challenges that the
government of Somalia has been facing due to applying the federal system of federalism within
the region.
 25

As representatives of the administrative institution of Somalia, the informants have clearly

delivered the challenge of stepping out due to the lack of proper understanding of what
federalism is. On the other hand, it is also realised that the challenges are quite evident and
influence the political scenario and structure that could influence the future course of
action. Hence, the informants have clearly manifested the factors like lack of proper
understanding among the clan members and the community member regarding the concept of
federalism, and the lack of motivation to create an elite working environment for the political
aspects to be implemented have led the government to encounter with the challenges so far.

Somalia is continuously dealing with different internal and external challenges; it is also a fact
that the region and the government have been facing difficulty in dealing with the challenges
of federalism and facing difficulty in convincing the community people about the benefits of
federalism at the same time. Therefore, the discussion has highlighted that there is some lack
of activities of proper decisions on behalf of the Somalian government, which could have
helped mitigate the challenges and could have helped in preaching the proper knowledge about
federalism among the society members as well.

Therefore, it is observed that the Somalian government could have taken several actions life
educating the common people and the society members regarding the federal system and its
benefits by preaching better activities relating to the federal system to enhance the standard of
the societal structure of the same time (Masini, 2016). Different activities addressing the
requirement of the common people of Somalia would have also worked like a miracle to gain
trust and understanding from the people so that the road to the Future development of the
Federal Government could have been saved easily.

Most importantly, the discussion has concentrated on creating a better idea about the future
impact of federalism over the political scenario of Somalia, and the informants deliver that the
future scenario can be positive and great in nature if the current Somalian government takes
certain steps towards modification and improvement of their actions. The main purpose of this
discussion is to highlight the challenges and benefits of the federal system and federalism
applied in Somalia, and it also intends to highlight the perspective of Somalia people towards
the suitability of federalism within the region.

Following the above discussion, it can be realised that the Somali people are far from having
an in-depth understanding of the federal system, and it also suggested that there is both positive
and negative impact of federalism over Somalia that influences the national unity, distribution
 26

of health, economic standards and prosperity of the region as well. This lack of understanding
about the federal system creates a significant challenge for the government to convince people
about the good benefits of federalism; as a result, poor knowledge about federalism and the
clan best federalism is at the core of internal conflicts and complexities within the community
and with the neighbouring countries as well (Robinson, 2021). On the other hand, it is also
realised that in the context of Federal African states and the court have played a significant role
in arbitrating the intergovernmental complexities and complete but others Supreme Court, for
example in Nigeria, has included the federal-state conflict litigation and arbitration to explain
the benefits of federal system application within a region. as far as the power-sharing and the
legislation is concerned the discussion has also manifested a clear idea about the substantial
number of people or member understanding the constitutional power a legislative distribution
of the Federal parliament.

The findings have also been evident in highlighting that the adoption of federalism has been
subjected to several conflicts and challenges the Somalian government faces. One of the major
challenges was the management of resources between the central government and the federal
member states. The challenges emerged due to the state claim that the distribution of wealth
was not even and more physical resources were allocated to the client based member states. the
difference of opinion Occurred due to the inability of the government to create a balance, and
the physical revenue was not transparent enough for the community and the member states to
understand that equality in the distribution as well.

For this reason, Somalia has significantly encountered issues related to physical federalism and
problems in the borrowing for both Central Government and the federal member states also
remain untouched due to the lack of proper law and legislation application. From the
discussions, the findings have also been enriched with information related to the significant
role of international actors in helping Somalia deal with the challenges related to
federalism. After the civil war, Somalia had been in an abysmal of complexities related to the
proper governance and balancing the political aspects between clans and different dominating
groups within the region. Here the international actors have played a significant role in
providing a clear insight about the Federal government could behold all the complexities and
internal conflicts by equal power distribution (Samuel C., 2012).

The international factors and the neighbouring countries have provided our support to Somalia
to ensure the federal system is being implemented with proper is, and the government is
 27

continuously working on the aspect that could help to reduce the internal conflicts and preach
more knowledge and education among the community members and the common people who
live in the rural areas of Somalia as well.

The findings are also manifested that Somalia and its government could have concentrated on
several aspects that could become with maintaining a balance within the region and create a
powerful solution for the increasing conflicts at the same time. The Somalian government could
have been considered an active scaling down of the plan in which the Somalian leaders and the
foreign partners could engage with each other to transfer the power from one aspect to another.
This practice could have been effective in downsizing the political, financial and logistical
challenges that Somalia is currently encountering, and it would also enhance the security
aspects by reforming the national level of potential security threats through the manageable
task (Tariq, 2020). In this regard, it is suggested by the informants that the Somalian
government should have considered the selection of one town as a test area to implement the
federal system and understand its impact on the local inhabitants and the local region at the
same time. In this manner, some of the challenges could have been reduced or mitigated if the
Somali government had concentrated on mitigating the current challenges and its future
evaluation to ensure non-occurrence.

The discussion has also instigated one question about what the government could have been
done to ensure security which has become one of the main concerns for the region to deal with
due to the internal conflict of clans and member states. In Somalia, each town requires a
different set of security measures based on the normal threat they are taking on the daily life
and train the local people to deal with such threats on their own so that the confidence of the
local people over the government can be increased.

The findings can be concluded by focusing on the concept of federalism beyond Somalia. In
2017 many incidents affected the invention of foreign troops within the region and created
domestic conflict against other forces leading to the rebellion act by the local community
people. Despite the significant investment done in the development of multiple frameworks by
the Somali government to lead the Federal government to be worked positively and reliably,
their processes have not been adopted positively by the local and community members due to
the lack of knowledge of a federal system and its process of working. Another impact of
federalism in Somalia is seen in the leadership disputes identified through the process to
determine new leadership after the Civil War.
 28

Therefore, the entire discussion and findings have significantly manifested the reason behind
Somalia adopting federalism and what are the main challenges with federalism that occurred
for the local government at the same time. The informants have provided noteworthy
information about federalism and why Somalia has adopted the system. The challenges of a
federal system and its application in the context of Somalia are also being highlighted in this
regard that has significantly influenced the political scenario and can influence the future
course of vertical actions simultaneously. Moreover, this discussion is quite evident in
providing a better perspective towards the future application and activities of the federal system
and why Somalia is still facing challenges with the federal government that requires immediate
modifications and development of the political frameworks.

Chapter 5: Conclusion
This is the last chapter of the dissertation, known as the conclusion, summarising the entire
study conducted and my research. The research topic mainly revolves around the concept of
the federal system and its application in the Republic of Somalia. The research has focused on
understanding the concept of federalism at first and before delving deeper into its application
in the Somalian region and discovered that Somalia being a developing region, have faced
several challenges and conflicts due to the lack of a proper governance system. after the civil
war was over had witnessed is an internal conflict between different clan-based dominance
within the society and letter the clan members become the member states after the application
of Federal government. Along with the benefits, the Somalian region and the community
members have been facing significant challenges due to the federal system application, and the
main reason behind it is realised in terms of the lack of proper information and knowledge
about the federal system itself. I have significantly discovered that the people of Somalia do
not properly understand the federal system and what benefit it might provide them in terms of
societal development and political structure reformation. The literature review has provided a
clear idea of the Federal government and why Somalia has adopted the federal system after the
civil war. Apart from this, the literature has also discussed the challenges faced by the Somali
government due to the federal system and how the government is supposed to deal with the
challenges to ensure a balance within the social structure and the political practices. To
 29

understand the viability and effectiveness of the discussion, it is important to set a link between
the literature review and the objectives set previously by me.

5.1 Link between the literature and the objectives:

v To discuss the inception of federalism in Somalia.

To place a link between this objective of the research work and the literature, it is observed that
it provided a great deal of information about the inception of federalism in Somalia, and it has
also discussed how Somalia decided to implement federalism after the civil war was over. Since
the independence of Somalia in 1960, the region has encountered several civil wars and internal
clan conflicts, which created a chaotic situation and a lack of valence within the social
structure. The people of Somalia have suffered so much due to such conflicts that the
dominance of Al Shabaab was at the peak of their success at the time. Somalia was
characterised as a failed state in 1992, where the UN Security Council suggested and witnessed
a mass killing, which led the UN to withdraw from Somalia. To diminish all this conflict and
complexities, the government has decided to practice equal power distribution, and another
federal system that was able to provide a balance in the societal structure in Somalia was
established to create a significant control over the internal conflict. As the discussion and the
findings have indicated the same information, I have successfully linked the objective and the
literature within the respective research study.

v To understand the impacts and changes brought by federalism in Somalia.

To address this objective, I have developed into the literature and found out the impacts and
changes made in Somalia after applying federalism. Before federalism, the Somalian
government had been struggling in terms of placing control over the internal conflict and was
also unable to control the negative impact of the conflicts over the societal and political
structure at the same time. Therefore, with the help of the federal system, the government has
created a balance in the power distribution and provided opportunities to the local community
members to understand the importance of the federal system and gain their righteous
opportunities. I have been evident in linking the objective with the literature and the findings
in a clear manner.

v To highlight the challenges caused by federalism in Somalia.

 30

To address the challenges faced by the government of Somalia due to federalism, I have
identified several challenges, such as the power-sharing distribution that different clan
members have raised as the federal system advocated equal sharing of power in a decentralised
manner. The increased security issues are another significant challenge that the federal system
has caused as the Federal government was incapable of running errands and making the state a
secure place for the community member. Clan conflict and Muslim countries influencing the
Somalian population are other significant challenges that have increased the intensity of the
issues.

v To find the root cause of the challenges and look for appropriate mitigating strategies.

This objective refers to the Future implication of any activities by the Somali government and
looks into the core reason for the challenges to emerge. The literature has significantly
discussed the challenges with the federal system, but the discussion has provided the possible
actions that the Somali government could have been taken to mitigate the challenges
effectively. Therefore, there is a clear link between the objective and the literature and
discussion within the research work.

5.2 Recommendation
Based on the entire discussion of the research work and the challenges identified with the
Federal government in Somalia, the government’s recommendations can be considered to
ensure a better future practice with the federal system in Somalia.
• The population in the rural area of Somalia government could create a training program
for an education program for the common people to understand the concept of Federal.
• The population living in the rural area of Somalia needs to be provided with proper aid
and societal opportunities to enhance the trust over the government and its acts.
• Invest in the security system to ensure that the community is secure enough from
external threats and internal conflicts.
• Develop appropriate policies and legislation regarding internal conflicts to take proper
measures during an emergency.

5.3. Limitation
Despite the in-depth research, there are certain limitations that I have encountered during the
process of completing the entire task. The first limitation is the time as the study is time-bound
and has to be completed within the given period; therefore, it is realised that the quality of the
 31

study might get tampered with to some extent. Another limitation is the resources, and I have
selected qualitative data collection, which was quite difficult as the government officials are
hard to convince and the elections are going on in Somalia. Therefore, this might have created
limitations. Thus, despite the challenges, I am able to create a better piece of work.

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Tariq, M., 2020. The Concept of Symmetry and Asymmetry in Federalism with a brief sketch
of Economic Federalism. I, V(I), pp.166-176.
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Appendix:
Interview Responses:

R1 - Political Part Secretary Wadajir party

Qualitative questionnaire for the interviews:

1) Why do you think federalism was implemented in Somalia in the first place?

Ans: Somalia had a central power that has been one person role, which created problems where
people from different regions have not benefited from regulatory opportunities by the central
government.
With this background, the clan joints, which had several conferences with the support of the
countries, led to taking solution options, which was to share power and create the federal sys-
tem. Somali people are divided into different clans that went to war during the conflict. They
have confidence in it because the federal system became alternatives for yearly systems that do
not abuse.
2) What are the positive and negative impacts of federalism in Somalia since its inception?
Ans: The disadvantage of federalism is that the people do not understand the system and do
not have knowledge of the system we have, which created the system to become clan-based
member states.
These Member States today have different ministries that have the corresponding power of the
Federal Ministry. The country is divided economically and militarily, which is a great threat to
the nation’s interest. The advantage is that the power goes too close to the people and others
are that each clan should lead its area, which gives more opportunity to people living in the
country to benefit from the system and their rights in their particular area.

3) What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running the political interface in
Somalia?

Ans: Challenges are first and foremost a lack of knowledge where the government and the
Member State do not know what their rights and tasks they have. Security in Somalia is dan-
gerously critical.
 35

The government does not have the violence where the terrorist group Alshabab controls a large
part of the country. This means that the people cannot vote in the Somali constitution. Due to
the clan division, older clan leaders have gained access to politics. The more the policy is clan-
based, the more challenges to implementing government will, which becomes difficult to
achieve the set goal of the Somali government.

4) How is the government of Somalia taking action to resolve the challenges that emerged against
federalism?

Ans: To implement the federal system, government leaders should work to gain control of
country security. Educate people by increasing knowledge about the new system as people
know about what applies to laws and regulations.

5) How can the future political scenario of Somalia be impacted if the challenges are not dealt with
practical solutions?

Ans: The conflict continues and becomes more of a problem and lawlessness until the system
has worked well and dealt with the political problem in Somalia.

R2 Somali national TV and radio

Qualitative questionnaire for the interviews:

• Why do you think federalism was implemented in Somalia in the first place?

Since independence, Somalia had a unitary system, but after the civil war, the Somali nation
has been divided into different clan-based interim administrations. The Somali intellectuals
backed by the international community who have different interests, especially
neighbouring countries, bushed to take the federal system as solution of Somalia conflict
to restore the governance and resolve the problem backed by the international community.
It’s not hidden history Somalis have been fighting over clan and religious issues for two
decades, and federalism is nothing but a new source or cycle of conflict over land and
ownership.
Due to the prolonged civil war, the resulting trust deficit, Somalis are yearning for local
control of their politics. Decentralisation, or any other form of federalism become the an-
swer to their quest. And other thing is because of previews central government who issues
the power very badly I do not think that a strongly centralised system is not accepted by
most Somali clans.
 36

• What are the positive and negative impacts of federalism in Somalia since its in-
ception?

Civic education, distribution of resources between state and national governments, and the
status of Mogadishu are also major challenges. The Somali people they hear that Somalia
take system called federal, but they haven’t any knowledge about the system and the kind
of federalism we have. The establishment of a federalism of the clan, rather than a regional
one” is a serious risk.

The advantage is that the power goes too close to the people. In opinion some of Somalis
they prefer federalism system because federal will disperse power among the states and
will thus reduce the concentration of power on central hands.

• What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running the political inter-
face in Somalia?

The majority of Somali People living rural area. There is luck of civic education on federal
system.

• How is the government of Somalia taking action to resolve the challenges emerged
against federalism?

The majority of Somali people who leave rural area or most people are not aware how
diverse federalism is or the options available for decentralisation. There also needs to be
national dialogue on the role of national and local authorities in controlling revenues from
natural resources, he believes.

• How can the future political scenario of Somalia get impacted if the challenges are
not dealt with practical solutions at present?

• Without a strong commitment from the federal government, federalism will not
flourish in Somalia. Federalism will continue to be a source of both harmony and
struggle. And that is to wait if not come with strategy and pure politics. In the mean-
time, it won’t be easy, but eventually, it will resolve itself. The government must
 37

also work to increase knowledge and understanding of the federal meaning and im-
plement Somali must be implemented so that the power, economy, roles distribution
will be clear and distinct.

R3 minster of Region Admintrative Associate and previous

Qualitative questionnaire for the interviews:

1) Why do you think federalism was implemented in Somalia in the first place?

Ans. Although it was not a Somali-led solution, I believe that the lack of trust among Somalis
due to the impacts of the collapsed totalitarian authority, and the will of regional powers (such
as Ethiopia and Kenya) who were opposed to a united and powerful Somali state in the Horn
of Africa, it was the driving force behind the implementation of federalism in Somalia.

2) What are the positive and negative impacts of federalism in Somalia since its inception?

Ans. Power sharing among Somali clans as a check and balance system, as well as the regional
administrations (federal member states) who decentralising government services to rural areas,
are two of the beneficial aspects of federalism in Somalia since its establishment, in my
opinion. The negative effects of federalism in Somalia, on the other hand, include tribal
disintegration and tribalisation of the government system and structure, which impede the state-
building.

3) What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running the political interface in
Somalia?

Ans. I believe that a lack of understanding of federalism, as well as the absence of a motivated
and committed Somali elite working to construct a robust and balanced federal system, are
among the most serious difficulties that Somali Federalism faces.

4) How the government of Somalia is taking action to resolve the challenges emerged against
federalism?

Ans. I believe that the Somali government makes situations worse by failing to address the
challenges, let alone take action to resolve them.

5) How the future political scenario of Somalia can get impacted if the challenges are not dealt
with practical solutions at present?
 38

Ans. I believe that the political situation in Somalia will stymie the socioeconomic recovery of
the Somali society as well as the local, regional, and international actors’ efforts who aim to
reconstruct the Somali state in the future if the challenges are not addressed in a practical
manner.

R4- Government project leader Biyoole

Qualitative questionnaire for the interviews:

1) Why do you think federalism was implemented in Somalia in the first place?

Ans. Above all, this system is not by the will of Somalis, but it was the only solution that
could work to stabilize the political situation in Somalia. After a long time of the cri-
sis and clan conflict, the Somalis have been divided by different clans who created their own
local administrations such as Somaliland and Puntland, so the solution was to take the federal
system and implement it in Somalia.

2) What are the positive and negative impacts of federalism in Somalia since its inception?

Ans. The Somali power sharing system 4.5 system that guarantees the rights of minorities used
by Somalis in the state and federal institutions is an advantage as well as the delegation of
power to the countryside.

The problem is that the solution is to turn that system into a small state that is divided into
different clans that will further fragment the Somali society.

3) What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running the political interface in

Somalia?

Ans. The fundamental setback with the federalism system is that Somali society does not
have knowledge of the federal system and how it works.
The second problem is that Somali leaders have not focused on implementing federal systems
by increasing knowledge about federalism and identifying tasks at different institutions at
both regional and federal levels, which is why too many hands and different decisions were
made.

4) How the government of Somalia is taking action to resolve the challenges that emerged
against federalism?
 39

Ans. I believe that the Somali government makes situations worse by failing to address the

challenges, let alone take action to resolve them.

5) How the future political scenario of Somalia can get impacted if the challenges are not dealt

with practical solutions at present?

Ans. I think that the political situation in Somalia will stymie the socioeconomic recovery

of the Somali society as well as the local, regional, and international actors; efforts who aim to
reconstruct the Somali state in the future if the challenges are not addressed in a practical man-
ner.

R5 administrative Institution of Somalia Federal Government and anti international

intervation
Qualitative questionnaire for the interviews:
1) Why do you think federalism was implemented in Somaliaud in the first place?
Undoubtedly, the purpose of federalism in Somalia was
A: Somalis who oppressed the power of the state and then distrusted each other and pushed
everyone to their seats so that they would not be oppressed.
B: The enemy or the great countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya Considered that federalism
does not become a solution and is the only political strategy to convince Somalis to take it as
a solution. Unfortunately, they knew that Somalis would lose control and not agree on
federalism and then disintegrate as the Somali royal court called Wafaat which was divided
into 7 different small clans and when they collapsed each part went under Ethiopia impaired.

2) What are the positive and negative impacts of federalism in Somalia since its inception?

Ethiopian Prime Minister who has been a major leader in the Horn of Africa has facilitated
Somalias disintegration and obscured Somali culture and traditions such as social inclusion,
grazing in rainforests and socialising, dividing and naming both people and communities and
distancing itself from politics.
Somalis, he made Somalis an ignorant swimmer who drowned due to He did not know that
federalism was wrapped around his neck. I do not see anything good in Somalis in
 40

federalism.
3) What challenges do you often face due to federalism in running the political interface in
Somalia?
The politician does not understand what he is leading Somalis but he repeats a lesson he is
called and he does not understand and he cannot convince the people, the people reject this
barren imported system and then it is true that the politicians suffer

4) How is the government of Somalia taking action to resolve the challenges emerged against
federalism?
The Somali government cannot address the challenges and problems facing Somalisa and this
import project.

5) How can the future political scenario of Somalia get impacted if the challenges are not dealt
with practical solutions at present?
challenges are not currently addressed with practical solutions?
There is a real danger that if the situation is not remedied, there will be a resurgence of the
Country’s waste even more and clan conflict, civil war, there will be a loss of public
confidence and Somalia will be vulnerable to its enemies.
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