Partners for peace, peaceful partners? On the relations between UN, regional and non-state peacebuilders in Somalia

Abstract

Somalia is one of the most telling examples of the changes that have affected peacebuilding in recent decades. Building peace in Somalia is a multidimensional endeavour involving a large number of global, regional and non-state actors which raises significant issues around coordination. Based on extensive field research in Kenya, this paper addresses three interrelated issues. First, it fills a gap in the existing literature in peacebuilding in Somalia, concretely examining the various types of relation that exist between global, regional and non-state peacebuilders in Somalia. Second, it draws upon sociological approaches to address the impact of coordination mechanisms on the actors under consideration: what strategies are deployed to resist coordination of dissenting actors’ activities? Finally, the paper examines the impact had by such interactions on the nature of the peacebuilding effort itself. The article highlights the side effects of coercive coordination mechanisms leading to an increased fragmentation of peacebuilding efforts and to a double mechanism of mutual exclusion between state and non-state actors as well as between Western and non-Western actors.