Pastoralism in a Stateless Environment: The Case of the Southern Somalia Borderlands

  • Peter D. Little University of Kentucky
Keywords: Pastoralism, Collapsed States, Trade And Markets, Political Conflict

Abstract

Somalia has been without a government since 1991 when the regime of President Siad Barre was overthrown. This article examines the strategies that Somali herders and traders of the southern Somalia borderlands, particularly the Lower Jubba Region, have pursued in the absence of a central government. As an activity, pastoralism and the commerce it spurs are at the heart of Somali livelihoods and social relationships. They have the potential to unite as well as divide, and provide convenient lens into the causes of conflict and the ways that the majority of the population has survived since 1991. In this article, it will be shown that the lack of a state does not equate to political anarchy and. Indeed, for some areas a form of local and regional administration has emerged. The paper, however, concludes by arguing that statelessness has not been good for the majority of Somalis and that it represents an unsustainable political model that has the potential to undermine one of the few successes, trade, that has occurred since the state's collapse.

References

Besteman, C. (1999) Unraveling Somalia: Race, Violence, and the Legacy of Slavery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Chevenix-Trench, C. P. (I907) Papers on the Northern Frontier District, Kenya. MSS Afr. s. 583 (unpublished papers). Oxford: Rhodes House Library, Oxford University.

Coppock, D. L. (1994) The Borana Plateau of Southern Ethiopia: Synthesis of Pastoral Research, Development, and Change, 1980-1991. Addis Ababa: International Livestock Centre for Africa.

Cossins, N. J. (1985) The Productivity and Potential of Pastoral Systems. Nairobi: ILCA (International Livestock Centre for Africa) Bulletin 21: 10-15.

Daily Nation (1999) Rival Somali Clans Battle in Kismayu. 7 January, p.ll, Nairobi.

Economist (2001a) The Berbers Rise. Vol. 359, Issue 8220, May 5, p. 39.

Economist (2001 b) Protest Gathers on the Borders. Vol. 361, Issue 8244, 20 October, p.48.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) (1994) Towards a Strategy for Agricultural Development in SomaLia: From Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for Development. Mogadishu, Somalia: FAO.

Farah, A. Y. (2000) Opportunities for the Improvement of Essential Services: Primary Education, Health and Water. WSP (War-torn Societies Project) Somali Programme in Puntland. Nairobi: UNDP.

FEWS-Net (Famine Early Warning Systems-Network) (2001) Livestock in Somalia. Unpublished field report. Nairobi, Kenya: FEWS-Net.

FSAU (Food Security Analysis Unit) (2003) Closure of Garissa (Kenya) cattle market: Food security implications in the Garissa marketshed in Kenya and Somalia, Unpublished paper, Nairobi: FAO.

Green, S. L. (1998) Correspondent report on Somalia. Washington, DC: Voice of America.

Hendy, C. and J. M. (1999) Contingency Planning for Drought-Time Grazing Resources and Management in Pastoral Areas of Northern Kenya. Chatham, UK: Natural Resources Institute.

Ibn Khaldun (1967) the Magaddimah, vol. 1. Trans. F. Rosenthal. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (1997) Somali Natural Resources Management Programme. Eastern Africa Programme. Nairobi: IUCN.

Jalata, A. (1993) Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict, 1868-1992. Boulder, co: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Keenan, J. (2004) The Lesser Gods of the Sahara: Social Change and Contested Terrain amongst the Tuareg of Algeria. London: Frank Casso.

Kenya, Government of (1994) Kenya Population Census 1989, Volume L Nairobi: Government Printer Kenya Standard, August 16, 1989, p. 10.

Lewis, I. M. (1961) A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. London: Oxford University Press.

Lewis, I. M. (1994) Blood and Bone: the Call of Kinship in Somali Society. Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press.

Little, P. D. (2003) Somalia: Economy Without State. Oxford, UK: James Currey Publishers; Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Little, P. D., Smith, K, Cellarius, B. A, Coppock, D. L. and Barrett, C. B. (2001) Avoiding Disaster: Diversification and risk management among East African herders. Development and Change, 32: 401-433.

Lohr, K F. (1995) Notes on the Livestock Sector. Special Edition of the World Food Programme (WFP) Food Secutity Bulletin. Nairobi, Kenya.

Mansur, A O. (1995) The Nature of the Somali Clan System. In Ahmed, A Jimale (ed.) lhe Invention of Somalia. Lawrenceville, N.J: Red Sea Press, pp.117-134.

Menkhaus, K. (1991) Report on an Emergency Needs Assessment of the Lower Jubba Region (Kismayo, Jamaame, and Jilib Districts). Unpublished report submitted to World Concern International.

Menkhaus, K. (1991) From Feast to Famine: Land and the State in Somalia's Lower Jubba Valley. In Besteman, C. and Cassanelli, L. (eds.) The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War. Boulder. co: Westview Press pp.133-153.

Menkhaus, K. and Craven, K. (1996) Land Alienation and the Imposition of State Farms in the Lower Jubba Valley. In Besteman, C. and Cassanelli, L. (eds.) The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia: ?he War Behind the Wtzr. Boulder. CO: Westview Press, pp.155-177.

Mubarak, J. A. (1997) The 'Hidden Hand' behind the resilience of the stateless economy of Somalia. World Development, 25: 2027-2041.

Palmer, E. H. (1977) The Desert of the Exodus, Vols. I and II New York: Arno Press (1871, Cambridge: Deighton Bell and Co.).

Resource Management and Research (1984) Southern Rangelands Survey. Mogadishu: National Range Agency.

Scoones, I. (1989) Patch use in Dryland Zimbabwe: Farmer Knowledge and Ecological Theory. Pastoral Development Network Paper 28b. London, UK: Overseas Development Institute.

Seely, J. (2001) A political analysis of decentralisation: Coopting the Tuareg threat in Mali. Journal of Modern African Studies, 39: 499-524.

Stockton, Gilles and S. Chema (1995) Somali Livestock Export Study. Joint European Commission (EC)/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Nairobi: EC.

Umar, A. (2000) ?he Organization of Livestock Marketing in Northern Kenya and Southern Somalia, and Its Potential for Pandemic Control Report of study for the Terra Nuovo and the OAU (Organization for African Unity), IBAR (InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources) and PARC (Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign), Nairobi.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1998) Human Development Report: Somalia. Nairobi: UNDP.

Watson, M. (1987) Aerial Surveys of Livestock Populations in the Dry Season, Jubba Valley. Unpublished report.

Western, D. and Finch V. (1986) Cattle and pastoralism: Survival and production in Arid Lands. Human Ecology, 14: 77-94.

Wolf, E. (1982) Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Zaal, F. (1998) Pastoralism in a Global Age: Livestock Marketing and Pastoral Commercial Activities in Kenya and Burkina Faso. PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Amsterdam: Thela Thesis.

Published
2016-02-23