THE PERSISTENCE OF STATE DISINTEGRATION IN SOMALIA BETWEEN REGIONAL AND GLOBAL INTERVENTION

Since the state collapsed in 1991 Somalia has been embroiled in a permanent civil war, the central sovereignty hibernated in a protracted state of implosion, while the state’s integrity has been shattered by a process of territorial fragmentation. While most of the literature revolving around determinants and outcomes of disintegration has paid little attention to the role played by foreign actors, the contemporary stalemate in Somalia has become stagnant within constant, continuous and pervasive international interventions: the UN peace making and peace enforcement operations (1992-1995), the Ethiopian-Eritrean proxy war (1998-2000) and the glocal counter-terrorism (2001-2010). Employing an integrated model of external intervention based on the theories of Ruth Iyob and George Modelski, this study makes use of process-tracing and structured, focused comparison to systematically explore similarities and differences within interventionist practices in Somalia. In focusing on causal mechanisms, this study identifies the conditions that affected the failure of the internationally-led peace-building efforts mustered in response to the state collapse. This analysis highlights how both global and regional interventions have contributed to prolong disintegration, through the outsourcing of sovereignty’s functions and the internationalization of the internal conflict. The UNOSOM intervention mostly has corresponded with subversion outcomes occurring when intervention is oriented to isolate the insurgents. The regional intervention has complied with the expected outcomes of the regional conflict that move hegemonic and diasporic states to regionalize their rivalries. And lastly, the glocal anti-terrorism has followed an isolationist trend oriented to curb those revolts considered too dangerous for the survival of rules sustaining the international system. This analysis also demonstrates to what extent the militarization of the process of reconciliation and the penetration of foreign security interests into the structure of the internal conflict favoured a slide towards a modern version of trusteeship.