Affirmation or erosion of sovereignty in the Horn of Africa?

Abstract

Since 1960, the Horn of Africa has undergone a remarkable transformation shaped by internal dynamics and external intervention. Somalia has been embroiled in a bitter civil war since 1991. There is a constant threat of escalation of local conflicts and border skirmishes that could spill over and further destabilize the sub-region. This chapter focuses on the existing intraand inter-state instability in the Somali inhabited region in these sub-regional dynamics in the Horn of Africa. While in most countries in the Horn of Africa multi-party democracy's failures were tied to fragmentation and weak opposition party structures, especially when undermined by the ruling party, this is not the case of Somaliland. No pattern of fragmentation or erosion of sovereignty can be established for the whole sub-region and the cases of South Sudan, Somaliland, and Puntland represent three different outcomes: independence, de facto statehood without recognition, and federal integration respectively.