Somalia's evolving political market place: from famine and humanitarian crisis to permanent precarity

Jaspars, Susanne, Majid, Nisar and Adan, Guhad M. (2023) Somalia's evolving political market place: from famine and humanitarian crisis to permanent precarity. Journal of Modern African Studies, 61 (3). 343 - 366. ISSN 0022-278X

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Abstract

Somalia has a long history of famine and humanitarian crisis. This article focuses on the years 2008–2020, during which governance and aid practices changed substantially and which include three crisis periods. The article examines whether and how governance analysed as a political marketplace can help explain Somalia's repeated humanitarian crises and the manipulation of response. We argue that between 2008 and 2011 the political marketplace was a violent competitive oligopoly which contributed to famine, but that from 2012 a more collusive, informal political compact resulted in a status quo which avoided violent conflict or famine in 2017 and which functioned to keep external resources coming in. At the same time, this political arrangement benefits from the maintenance of a large group of displaced people in permanent precarity as a source of aid and labour.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of...
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Conflict and Civil Society
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2024 11:19
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 20:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124885

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