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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Somalia: Militarism, Warlordism or Democracy?
Author:Adam, Hussein M.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Review of African Political Economy
Volume:19
Issue:54
Period:July
Pages:11-26
Language:English
Geographic term:Somalia
Subjects:democracy
class formation
militarism
Politics and Government
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Military, Defense and Arms
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056249208703950
Abstract:Somali politics have traditionally been structured in terms of the clan system which organizes agro-pastoral society. These clan-based alignments have provided the lines of conflict along which struggles for recognition - for status and prestige, but also for social justice and equality - have been fought. Under conditions of dependent capitalism and uneven class formation, clan consciousness takes on a trade union aspect, in defence of real material interests and in opposition to tendencies towards clan inequality. The Siyaad Barre regime disrupted the balance of clan interests by setting aside traditional tendencies to compromise and accommodate conflicts in order to impose clan hegemony on the country. The result has been to politicize and militarize clan groupings in opposition to the Siyaad government and to plunge Somalia into civil war. It has divided the country, given rise to regional and clan warlords, and imperilled moves towards democracy. Bibliogr.
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