How Somalia Works: Mimicry and the Making of Mohamed Siad Barre’s Regime in Mogadishu

Abstract

Recent literature on Somalia has largely been preoccupied with the latest developments from the capital, Mogadishu, yet Somalia in public discourse is not the same as the empirically nuanced Somalia on the ground. This article examines how and why the concept of governmentality has become a peculiar mixture of genuine reform and replication of old institutions and practices. Casting a new light on the type of governmentality exercised in Mogadishu, it explores the cosmological ways in which political power is articulated, both visually and physically, and reveals how Mogadishu mimics the old military regime of General Mohamed Siad Barre to create a sense of authoritarian rule. Drawing on fieldwork comprising oral interviews, ethnographic observations, and primary data (such as government decrees and documents, oral poems, and television and radio recordings), the article argues that the lack of real state structures for nearly three decades memorializes the military regime and makes the only reference to, and model for, attempts at state reformation processes, from below and above.