Somalia at a crossroads: Three decades of state reconstruction and Questions of monopoly of force

By Omar Abdi Shire

Introduction

Somalia remains one of the world’s fragile states. More than three decades after the collapse of the central government in 1991, the country continues to struggle with institutional weakness, dependence on external actors, social fragmentation, and a profound deficit of political trust. Yet after thirty years of state-building efforts, an unavoidable question emerges: What has changed? What must change? What should be maintained because it has produced positive outcomes?.

To answer these questions, it is necessary to revisit the origins of state collapse and critically examine the political trajectory that followed.