Globalizing Somalia: Multilateral, International and Transnational Repercussions of Conflict

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This collection of essays demonstrates how chronic state failure and the inability of the international community to provide a solution to the conflict in Somalia has had transnational repercussions. Following the failed humanitarian mission in 1992-93, most countries refrained from any direct involvement in Somalia, but this changed in the 2000s with the growth of piracy and links to international terrorist organizations. The deterritorialization of the conflict quickly became apparent as it became transnational in nature. In part because of it lacked a government and was unable to work with the international community, Somalia came to be seen as a "testing-ground" by many international actors. Globalizing Somalia demonstrates how China, Japan, and the EU, among others, have all used the conflict in Somalia to project power, test the bounds of the national constitution, and test their own military capabilities. Contributed by international scholars and experts, the work examines the impact of globalization on the internal and external dynamics of the conflict, arguing that it is no longer geographically contained. By bringing together the many actors and issues involved, the book fills a gap in the literature as one of the most complete works on the conflict in Somalia to date. It will be an essential text to any student interested in Somalia and the horn of Africa, as well as in terrorism, and conflict processes.

Reviews

With extensive information and rich analyses, this book contributes a great deal to our understanding of how the Somali conflict has been transformed into a transnational issue with various forms of intervention by global and regional powers as well as international organizations. * Kidane Mengisteab, Professor of Political Science and African Studies, Pennsylvania State University, US and author of Anatomy of an African Tragedy: Political, Economic and Foreign Policy Crisis in Post-Independence Eritrea (2005) *

Author Bio

Gilbert Ramsay works at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, UK. An Arabic speaker, he has previously written reports on terrorism and the Internet for the United Nations and the European Union. Emma Leonard was Assistant to the Dean of Development Studies at Mbarara University, Uganda. She earned a post-graduate degree in African Studies (MSc Hons) at Oxford University before joining the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She is now pursuing her doctoral research at The Pennsylvania State University, USA.