Anarchy in Somalia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, from 1991 to 2006, is cited as a real-world example of a stateless society

Stateless society

A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through...

and legal system. Since the fall of Siad Barre

Siad Barre

Mohamed Siad Barre was the military dictator and President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. During his rule, he styled himself as Jaalle Siyaad ....

's government in January 1991, there had been no permanent national government in Somalia until the current Transitional Federal Government

Transitional Federal Government

The Transitional Federal Government is the current internationally recognized government of the Republic of Somalia. It was established as one of the Transitional Federal Institutions of government as defined in the Transitional Federal Charter adopted in November 2004 by the Transitional...

. Large areas of the country such as Puntland

Puntland

Puntland , officially the Puntland State of Somalia , is a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998....

, and Galmudug

Galmudug

Galmudug is an autonomous region in central Somalia. It is bordered to its north by the Puntland region, to the west by Ethiopia, and to the south by other regions of Somalia.Galmudug's name is derived from a conflation of the Galguduud and Mudug provinces...

are internationally unrecognized autonomous regions, while Somaliland

Somaliland

Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...

is a de facto sovereign state. The remaining areas, including the capital Mogadishu

Mogadishu

Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....

, were divided into smaller territories ruled by competing warlord

Warlord

A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...

s. In many areas there were (and still are) no formal regulations or licensing requirements for businesses and individuals.

Somalia is currently claimed as the sovereign territory of the Transitional Federal Government

Transitional Federal Government

, internationally recognized as the Government of Somalia. Before December 2006, the TFG controlled only the town of Baidoa

Baidoa

Baidoa is a city in south-central Somalia, situated by road northwest of the capital Mogadishu. It is the capital of the Bay region, which is traditionally inhabited by the Digil and Mirifle clans....

, the sixth largest city. The intervention of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n government forces following the rise of the Islamic Courts Union, culminating in the latter's defeat in the Battle of Baidoa

Battle of Baidoa

The Battle of Baidoa began on December 20, 2006 when the Somali Transitional Federal Government's forces allied with Ethiopian forces stationed there attacked advancing Islamic Courts Union forces along with 500 alleged Eritrean troops and mujahideen arrayed against them.The battle began with...

, allowed the TFG to expand its control under the protection of the Ethiopians. The TFG has not been able to effectively collect taxes, has no notable finances or real power base, and has struggled to exert control over Mogadishu since an attempted move in late December 2006. However, the TFG has since been able to take most of Somalia, and is struggling to cement its control and establish law and order.

Benjamin Powell argues that statelessness has led to more order and less chaos than had the previous state, and economist Alex Tabarrok

Alex Tabarrok

Alexander Taghi Tabarrok is a Canadian-American economist and co-author, with Tyler Cowen, of the economics blog Marginal Revolution....

has claimed that Somalia in its stateless period provided a "unique test of the theory of anarchy

Anarchy

Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...

", in some aspects near of that espoused by anarcho-capitalists

Anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...

David D. Friedman

David Director Friedman is an American economist, author, and Right-libertarian theorist. He is known as a leader in anarcho-capitalist political theory, which is the subject of his most popular book, The Machinery of Freedom...

and Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard

Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...

, although this is disputed by various anarchists, of both the capitalist and anti-capitalist varieties

Anarchism and capitalism

Some anarchists advocate free-market, laissez-faire capitalism, while most anarchists not only oppose it, but believe capitalism and anarchism to be inherently incompatible.-Anarchist support of capitalism or aspects thereof:...

, who contend it is not anarchy, but merely chaos

Civil disorder

Civil disorder, also known as civil unrest or civil strife, is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe one or more forms of disturbance caused by a group of people. Civil disturbance is typically a symptom of, and a form of protest against, major socio-political problems;...

, perhaps resulting from unequal distribution of power and meddling by neighbors and developed nations like the United States. The Somali experience since the collapse of the state, and especially the failure of international intervention, has offered a clear challenge to elements of conventional economic

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, political and social order

Social order

Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways of relating and behaving....

theory and the very premises under which Western diplomacy and development agencies operate, and in particular, in the words of anthropologist Peter D. Little, "assumptions about the role of states in maintaining order and services".

The rule of law

Following the downfall of the Siad Barre regime, there was effectively no formal monocentric government law in Somalia. While some urban areas such as Mogadishu had private police forces, many Somalis simply returned to the traditional clan

Somali clan

The demographics of Somalia describes the condition and overview of Somalia's inhabitants. Demographic topics include basic education, health and population statistics, as well as identified racial and religious affiliations.-Somalis:...

-based legal structures for local governance and dispute resolution

Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties.-Methods:Methods of dispute resolution include:* lawsuits * arbitration* collaborative law* mediation* conciliation* many types of negotiation* facilitation...

. Identified by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

as "legendary individualists

Individualism

Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...

", Somalis have been thought of as particularly conducive to anarchist forms of social organisation; social scientists have identified the pastoralist way of life that a great many Somalis lead as in tension with formal statist legal systems. Political loyalties are based on clan and region rather than political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

, which, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , is a United Nations body formed in December 1991 by General Assembly Resolution 46/182...

makes the sustainability of a centralised political system "difficult".

Anthropologist Spencer MacCallum

Spencer MacCallum

Spencer Heath McCallum , commonly known as Spencer MacCallum, is an American anthropologist, business consultant and libertarian anarchist author...

has identified the rule of law

Rule of law

The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

during the period as that of the Xeer

Xeer

Xeer, pronounced , is the polycentric legal system of Somalia. Under this system, elders serve as judges and help mediate cases using precedents. It is a good example of how customary law works within a stateless society and is a fair approximation of what is thought of as natural law...

, a customary law indigenous to Somalia. The law permits practices such as safe travel, trade, and marriage, which survives "to a significant degree" throughout Somalia, particularly in rural Somalia where it is "virtually unaffected".
MacCallum credits the Xeer with "Somalia's success without a central government, since it provides an authentic rule of law to support trade and economic development." In the Xeer, law and crime are defined in terms of property rights; consequently the criminal justice

Criminal justice

Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

system is compensatory

Damages

In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...

rather than the punitive

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

system of the majority of states

Sovereign state

A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...

, and the Xeer is "unequivocal in its opposition" to any form of taxation. Powell et al. (2006) find that the existence of the common law dispute resolution

Dispute resolution

system in Somalia makes possible basic economic order. MacCallum compares the Xeer to the common law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

in 6th century Scotland, and notes that there is no monopoly of either police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

nor judicial services

Judiciary

The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...

, a condition of polycentric law

Polycentric law

Polycentric law is a legal structure in which providers of legal systems compete or overlap in a given jurisdiction, as opposed to monopolistic statutory law according to which there is a sole provider of law for each jurisdiction. Devolution of this monopoly occurs by the principle of...

. However, a weakness of such a system is that it proves ineffective at handling disputes and enforcing resolutions that cross clan boundaries. For example in a dispute involving telecommunications company Aerolite, the plaintiff from the weaker clan was unable to collect the "unfairly" small settlement they had been awarded.

The absence of any effective coast guard to enforce maritime law has resulted in Somalian international waters becoming an "international free-for-all", with piracy off the coast of Somalia in particular being the subject of international attention. Supporters of Somali piracy argue that they are reacting to illegal overfishing and toxic waste dumping by foreign powers, and some pirate organisations have styled themselves as voluntarist

Voluntarism

Voluntarism is a descriptive term for a school of thought that regards the will as superior to the intellect and to emotion. This description has been applied to various points of view, from different cultural eras, in the areas of metaphysics, psychology, sociology, and theology.The term...

defense organisations with names like National Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia and Somali Marines.

Social conditions

The international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières
' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...

stated that the level of daily violence during this period was "catastrophic". A statistic from 2000 indicated that only 21% of the population had access to safe drinking water at that time, and Somalia had one of the highest child mortality rates in the world with 10% of children dying at birth and 25% of those surviving birth dying before age five. Additionally, "adult literacy is estimated to have declined from the already low level of 24% in 1989 to 17.1% in 2001." A more recent 2003 study reported that the literacy rate was 19%. The impact on human development in Somalia of governmental collapse and ensuing civil war was profound, leading to the breakdown of political institutions, the destruction of social and economic infrastructure and massive internal and external migrations.

According to a study by the libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

think tank the Independent Institute

Independent Institute

The Independent Institute is a libertarian think tank based in Oakland, California. Founded in 1986 byDavid J. Theroux , the Institute sponsors studies of major political, social, economic, legal, environmental and foreign policy issues. It has more than 140 research fellows. The Institute was...

In 2005, Somalia ranked in the top 50 percent in six of our 13 measures, and ranked near the bottom in only three: infant mortality, immunization rates, and access to improved water sources. This compares favorably with circumstances in 1990, when Somalia last had a government and was ranked in the bottom 50 percent for all seven of the measures for which we had that year's data: death rate, infant mortality, life expectancy, main telephone lines, tuberculosis, and immunization for measles and DTP."

Social organization

In the absence of functioning governmental institution

Institution

An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...

s and regulation

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

s, they were supplanted by the private sector and clan law. Commentators identify evidence of areas where the private sector adapted to the stateless environment. A 2004 World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

study of the Somalian economy concluded that "it may be easier than is commonly thought for basic systems of finance and some infrastructure services to function where government is extremely weak or absent." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

referred to post-state Mogadishu as "the ultimate example of deregulation

Deregulation

Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...

," noting that "[g]utsy entrepreneurs, including some women, opened their own hospitals, schools… telephone companies, power plants and port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

s.". Journalist Kevin Sites

Kevin Sites

Kevin Sites is an American author and freelance journalist. He has spent nearly a decade covering global wars and disasters for ABC, NBC, CNN, and Yahoo! News...

, reported that "Somalia, though brutally poor, is a kind of libertarian

Libertarianism

's dream. Free enterprise

Free enterprise

-Transport:* Free Enterprise I, a ferry in service with European Ferries between 1962 and 1980.* Free Enterprise II, a ferry in service with European Ferries between 1965 and 1982....

flourishes, and vigorous commercial competition is the only form of regulation."

Communications

Somalia has some of the best telecommunications in Africa, with a handful of companies ready to wire home or office and provide crystal-clear service, including international long distance, for about $10 a month." Installation time for a land-line is just three days, while in the neighboring Kenya waiting lists are many years long. In other African countries public monopolies and licensing restrictions raise prices and hamper the spread of telecommunications. Abdullahi Mohammed Hussein of Telecom Somalia stated that "the government post and telecoms company used to have a monopoly but after the regime was toppled, we were free to set up our own business", The World Bank reported in 2007 that only about 1.5% of the population had a telephone resulting in the emergence of ten fiercely competitive telephone companies. According to the CIA World Factbook, private telephone companies "offer service in most major cities" via wireless

Wireless

Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

technology, charging "the lowest international rates on the continent", while The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

has noted the private provision of mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

services. The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

cited the telephone industry in anarchic Somalia as "a vivid illustration of the way in which governments…can often be more of a hindrance than a help."

Utilities

Since 1991 Somalia has lacked a functioning central electricity grid, but private entrepreneurs have offered electricity generation on a localised basis, typically offering a choice of daytime, evening or 24 hour electricity. Gaalkacyo

Gaalkacyo

Galkayo , also known as Galcaio or Galkacyo, is the capital of the north-central Mudug region of Somalia. The city is divided into two zones, where the main northern portion forms part of Puntland state, while its southern tip is governed by the Galmudug administration.Ruled in the early modern...

, a desert town in central Somalia, was provided with streetlights by local entrepreneur Abdirizak Osman, who expanded his enterprises from telecommunications to power generators, not only lighting the town but also supplying free electricity to the local hospital.

Private entrepreneurs have also collected and distributed water, although due to a lack of purification there is little access to safe water

Media

Since the fall of the government, dozens of private newspapers, radio and television station

Television station

A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

s mushroomed (Mogadishu has two fiercely competing TV stations), with private radio stations or newspapers in almost all major towns.

Transport

In 1991, before the collapse of the government, the national airline had only one airplane. Now there are approximately fifteen airlines, over sixty aircraft, six international destinations, and more domestic routes in Somalia. Private airlines, including Air Somalia

Air Somalia

Air Somalia is a privately owned airline based in Somalia, which was established in 2001....

and Daallo Airlines

Daallo Airlines

Daallo Airlines is an airline, headquartered in the Dubai Airport Free Zone in Al Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With its main base at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, the airline operates scheduled services in East Africa and the Middle East...

, serve several domestic locations as well as Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

, the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

, Paris and London. According to a 2005 World Bank report, the "private airline business in Somalia is now thriving with more than five carriers and price war

Price war

Price war is a term used in economic sector to indicate a state of intense competitive rivalry accompanied by a multi-lateral series of price reduction. One competitor will lower its price, then others will lower their prices to match. If one of them reduces their price again, a new round of...

s between the companies." Mohammed Yassin Olad, owner of Daallo Airlines, has stated that the absence of government has led to both difficulties and benefits, and commented that "corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

is not a problem, because there is no government…We build the airports and we service the airports and we only fly when we are sure it's safe".

The expansion of the aviation industry has been accompanied by the disruption of road transport; many roads are frequently blocked by militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

checkpoints which demand payment (between $3 and $300, depending on goods carried) in order to allow the cars to continue their journey. A BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

report claimed there were seven such checkpoints in the 50 km between an airstrip and the capital, Mogadishu. Most of the money is used to buy khat

Khat

Khat, qat, gat or Waquish Spoken from true Yemeni, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....

, a drug used by the militiamen.

Bosaso in relatively stable autonomous Puntland emerged as a regional hub and major port. A small fishing village prior to the fall of the state, Bosaso developed a lucrative import/export

International trade

International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...

trade of U.S. $15 million per year out of its port during the 1990s. The population grew in eight years from 5,000 to 150,000, sustained by public services provided on a competitive basis by private enterprise, and court systems, schools and a university founded by the local community.

Education

In a 2007 study of the state of education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

in Somalia since the collapse of central authority in 1991, Abdullahi Sheikh Abdinoor found that "the Somali people have adapted rather well, under the circumstances, to the absence of the state, despite continuing insecurity and lawlessness prevailing in the country." Following the destruction of educational systems and infrastructure during the civil war

Somali Civil War

The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces...

, many new educational institutions were opened by community members, private enterprises and Islamic NGOs.

For centuries, the Somali community, as opposed to the state, has been in charge of Islamic education in all aspects, providing financial and administrative support. The majority of the schools are provided by the free market

Free market

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...

, sustained by school fees (typically $10 per month); in cases where there are state-supported public schools, private schools are often coveted for their academic excellence, outperforming their public competitors in academic achievement tests.

By 2005 there were 1,172 primary schools, but levels of enrollment

Enrollment

Enrollment or enrolment may refer to:* Matriculation, the process of initiating attendance to a school...

that were low even by African standards with only around 17–19% of schoolchildren in primary education. Nevertheless, this level of primary enrollment was approaching pre-war levels, with secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

enrollment also showing an increase since 1998.

In Mogadishu, the Somalia National University

Somalia National University

The Somali National University was the national university of Somalia. The university campus was located near KM6, in the capital Mogadishu.-General:...

, Benadir University

Benadir University

Benadir University, or University of Benadir, abbreviated as BU, is a university located in Mogadishu, Somalia.-History:Benadir University was founded in 2002 as a medical school to help train Somali doctors.-Faculties:...

and the Mogadishu University

Mogadishu University

Mogadishu University is a non-governmental university in Mogadishu, Somalia. As of 2011, its in the top 30 of African universities.-History:The idea to establish a non-governmental educational institution started in June 1993, after which time it took five years to develop and open the university...

are three of the eight universities providing tertiary education

Tertiary education

Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...

in Southern Somalia, with the latter two institutions founded during the stateless period.

Currency

Rival producers of Somali shilling

Somali shilling

The Somali shilling is the official currency of Somalia...

s emerged after 1991. These included the Na shilling, which failed to gain widespread acceptance, and the Balweyn I and II, which were forgeries of pre-1991 bank notes. A competition for seigniorage

Seigniorage

Seigniorage can have the following two meanings:* Seigniorage derived from specie—metal coins, is a tax, added to the total price of a coin , that a customer of the mint had to pay to the mint, and that was sent to the sovereign of the political area.* Seigniorage derived from notes is more...

drove the value of the money down to about $0.04 per SoSh (1000) note, approximately the commodity cost. Consumers have refused to accept bills larger than the 1991 denominations, which has helped stopped the devaluation from spiraling further. The pre-1991 notes and the subsequent forgeries are treated as the same currency. It takes large bundles to make cash purchases.

The relatively stable value of the currency in the 1990s compared to the 1980s is explained by Peter D. Little in Somalia: Economy without a State as resulting from the lack of a central government printing currency to pay for civil and military expenditures. Traders avoid the need to carry large amounts of Somali shillings by converting them to U.S. dollars and then wiring them to money houses in Somalia. Because identification can be easily forged, those seeking to pick up wired money are required to answer questions about their clan and kinship relations. Private remittance companies known as hawala

Hawala

Hawala is an informal value transfer system based on the performance and honor of a huge network of money brokers, which are primarily located in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and South Asia...

assist in the transfer of money. One of the largest such companies, Al Barakaat, was shut down in 2001 by a U.S.-led initiative due to alleged terrorist ties; the company's communications business, with more than 40,000 subscribers, was also shut down.

With the establishment of the Transitional National Government in 2000, a group of businessmen imported about 30 billion shillings of Canadian-printed notes, sparking a collapse of the currency and wide-scale demonstrations and protests in Mogadishu. The value declined by 30 percent (to 13,000 per $1) in three months, and by the end of the 2001 the currency had fallen to about SoSh 22,000 per US dollar. Further imports of money caused additional disruption and the TNG was forced to buy up large amounts of money.

In the mainly stable north of Somaliland

Somaliland

, the Somaliland Shilling

Somaliland shilling

The Somaliland shilling is the official currency of Somaliland, a de facto independent republic which is recognized as a part of Somalia. It was introduced on 18 October 1994 at one new Somaliland shilling to 100 Somali shillings...

is used as currency. While unrecognised internationally, and not having an ISO 4217 Code

ISO 4217

ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Standards Organization, which delineates currency designators, country codes , and references to minor units in three tables:* Table A.1 – Current currency & funds code list...

, it enjoys wide usage and is considered to be a stable currency.

Economic conditions

Although it states that no reliable statistics are available for the period in question, the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

claims that Somalia, already one of the poorest countries in the world, has become even poorer as a result of civil war. However, the CIA Factbook maintains that gains were made during the early 2000s; "despite the seeming anarchy, Somalia's service sector has managed to survive and grow. Mogadishu's main market

Market

A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

offers a variety of goods from food to the newest electronic gadgets. Hotels continue to operate, and militias provide security."

When extreme poverty (percentage of individuals living on less than PPP$1 a day) was last measured by the World Bank in 1998, Somalia fared better than many other countries in Africa, over some of whom Somalia also had superior infrastructure. The CIA World Factbook counsels that "Statistics on Somalia's GDP, growth, per capita income, and inflation should be viewed skeptically", while estimating Somalia's GDP per capita at $600.

In the absence of a Somali state and its institutions, the private sector grew "impressively" according to the World Bank in 2003, particularly in the areas of trade, commerce, transport, remittance and infrastructure services and in the primary sectors, notably in livestock, agriculture and fisheries. In 2007, the United Nations reported that the country's service industry is also thriving. Economist Peter T. Leeson, in an event study

Event study

An Event study is a statistical method to assess the impact of an event on the value of a firm. For example, the announcement of a merger between two business entities can be analyzed to see whether investors believe the merger will create or destroy value...

of "the impact of anarchy

Anarchy

on Somali development", found that "[t]he data suggest that while the state of this development remains low, on nearly all of 18 key indicators that allow pre- and post-stateless welfare comparisons, Somalis are better off under anarchy than they were under government." Powell et al. concur that in absolute terms, Somalia's living standards have improved and compare favorably with many existing African states

Sovereign state

, but also report that living standards have often improved "relative to other African countries since the collapse of the Somali central government."

Islamic courts

Following the collapse of centralized government, much of the legal system and most of the educational institutions and social services fell under the control of religious institutions, which often received significant funding and support from international charities. In 2005, some of these clerical organizations united to form the Islamic Courts Union, after the secular warlords began to challenge the sharia

Sharia

Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

-based judicial institutions. Wary of Islamist paramilitaries in the age of the War on Terror

War on Terror

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

, the CIA funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to secular warlords inside Somalia in 2006, intending thereby to neutralize the threat of suspected members of Al Qaeda they believed to be sheltered by the ICU. This was cited by experts as a factor in the resurgence of Islamic militias in the country, prompting the latter to engage in pre-emptive strike

Pre-Emptive Strike

Pre-Emptive Strike is the first release by Five Finger Death Punch on July 10, 2007. It was only released as a digital download to the American iTunes Music Store. The live version of "The Devil's Own" was recorded at a performance in Las Vegas, Nevada....

s which routed the warlords and led to the seizure of Mogadishu by the ICU. The ICU gained control of Mogadishu and its surrounding districts in June 2006, after the Second Battle of Mogadishu

Second Battle of Mogadishu

The Second Battle of Mogadishu was a battle fought for control of Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia. The opposing forces were the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism , and militia loyal to the Islamic Court Union . The conflict began in mid-February, 2006, when Somali...

. The ICU was later overthrown

War in Somalia (2006–present)

The War in Somalia was an armed conflict involving largely Ethiopian and Somali Transitional Federal Government forces and Somali troops from Puntland versus the Somali Islamist umbrella group, the Islamic Court Union , and other affiliated militias for control of the country. There is a clear...

by the Ethiopia

Ethiopia

n military with the support of the United Nations

United Nations

, African Union

African Union

The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...

, and the United States government. After the ICU forces were chased from Mogadishu

Fall of Mogadishu

The Fall of Mogadishu occurred on December 28, 2006, when the militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops entered the Somali capital unopposed...

, the leaders of the Transitional Federal Parliament

Transitional Federal Parliament

The Transitional Federal Parliament of the Somali Republic is an interim Parliament of Somalia formed in neighboring Kenya in 2004.The Transitional Federal Parliament has 550 members representing Somalia's clans, Islamist opposition, representatives of citizens' groups and the Somali...

entered Somalia declaring themselves the rightful governors of Somalia. As of October 2007, there was still widespread opposition within Somalia to the TFG, and the TFG's leaders and their allies were still attempting to suppress a strong insurgency

Insurgency

An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...

. In January 2009 politician Abdirahman Ahmed

Abdirahman Ahmed

Abdirahman Ahmed was a Somali politician. He was executed by an Islamist militia for alleged apostasy. He was tried and convicted by a Sharia court, but was not allowed legal representation according to his family.-References:...

was executed for alleged apostasy

Apostasy

Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...

by a Sharia court.

Transitional Federal Government

The Transitional Federal Government

Transitional Federal Government

is internationally recognized as the government of Somalia. It was established in 2004 as a successor to the now defunct Transitional National Government

Transitional National Government

The Transitional National Government of Somalia was established in April–May 2000 at the Somalia National Peace Conference held in Djibouti....

, and currently occupies Somalia's seat in the United Nations

United Nations

. The TFG is allied with the Islamic Courts Union and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia

Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia

Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia is an organization created in September 2007 when Somali Islamists and opposition leaders meeting in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, joined forces to fight the Transitional Federal Government and the occupation of Somalia by Ethiopian forces.Roughly 400...

, and is backed by the United States, the United Nations and the African Union

African Union

. Its forces are fighting to quell the ongoing insurgency in Somalia and are attempting to gain control of the southern half of the country, as the northern regions are both autonomous and comparatively stable. As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's newly established coalition government announced that it would implement shari'a as the nation's official judicial system.

External links

Who Needs Government? Pirates, Collapsed States, and the Possibility of Anarchy, August 2007 issue of Cato Unbound focusing on Somali anarchy.
Crisis briefing on the current Somalia troubles by Reuters AlertNet
Peter Leeson "Somalia Before and After Government Collapse"
Mogadishu University
Kismayo University

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

The rule of law

Social conditions

Social organization

Communications

Utilities

Media

Transport

Education

Currency

Economic conditions

Islamic courts

Transitional Federal Government

See also

External links