The chaos in Somalia has obscured a remarkable political development in the country’s north. Somaliland, the secessionist northwestern slice of Somalia which declared its independence in 1991, has held three consecutive competitive elections since 2001, has a parliament controlled by opposition parties, and boasts a burgeoning economy propelled by the private sector. The key to its success—the integration into politics of traditional Somali models of governance by consultation and consent—provides a contrast to the standard development paradigm in the West.
About the Author
Seth Kaplan is a business consultant to companies in developing countries as well as a foreign-policy analyst. His book Fixing Fragile States: A New Paradigm for Development (2008), critiques Western policies in places such as Congo (Kinshasa), West Africa, Syria, and Pakistan, and lays out a new approach to overcoming the problems they face. For more information, see www.sethkaplan.org.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been traditionally depicted as a place where formal institutional rules are largely irrelevant-yet in the past fifteen years these rules have come to matter, and this trend…
