Peacebuilding In Somalia Research Articles

Youth Participation in Peacebuilding in Somalia: Challenges and Opportunities

This study focuses on the analysis of the challenges and opportunities of youth participation in peacebuilding in Somalia. The main objectives of the study were: to analyse the challenges of youth participation in peacebuilding related to the power dimensions of levels and spaces in Banadir region, Somalia and to explore the opportunities of youth participation in peacebuilding related to the power dimensions of levels and spaces in Somalia. The researcher used a qualitative approach of research to collect and analyse secondary data. The secondary data was collected through documentary review of books, articles, journals, reports that involved visiting the libraries and internet for the analysis of important documents in the search for topic issues. The information gathered from secondary data was resourceful in preparing the study and giving the research a more defined perspective. The secondary data were edited to check the accuracy, consistency and completeness of the information. The main findings of the study were that that the challenges hindering youth participation in Somalia include: poverty, lack of access to quality basic services like education, lack opportunities for youth to participate in peacebuilding, rigid culture, corruption, weak governance, prevalence of violence and insecurity and lack of resources and funding. And the key opportunities available for youth to participate in peacebuilding entail: increase youth opportunities for employment with entrepreneurship, market-focused, and public-private efforts, increase youth access to and use of high-quality education, increase youth engagement in community and government, conduct nation-wide campaign awareness on youth participation in peacebuilding and open space for youth to be leaders in the public sphere to strengthen the rule of law. The study recommended that the Federal Government of Somalia should promote, promote positive change to steer youth participation in peacebuilding, put in place mechanisms that engage youth in a collaborative fashion at all stages, include conflict analysis modules in the curriculum at appropriate levels, make education inclusive of all minority groups, including those people with disabilities, maintain contact with the trained youth facilitators, ensure that education is both inclusive and relevant to local needs and dedicate funding streams for peacebuilding in order to promote youth participation in peacebuilding in Somalia

The contribution of Somali diaspora in Denmark to Peacebuilding in Somalia through Multi-Track Diplomacy

The paper assesses the ways the Somali diaspora in Denmark is contributing to peacebuilding in their home country through what is known in peace studies as Multi-Track Diplomacy. It starts by defining the concepts of peacebuilding and Multi-track Diplomacy, showing how the latter works as an instrument for the former. The paper then describes and analyzes how, through a varied array of activities that include all tracks of diplomacy as classified by the Diamond&McDonald model, members of Danish diaspora function as interface agents between their home and host societies helping to build the conditions for a stable peace. The article also analyzes how the diplomacy tracks carried out by the Somali-Danish diaspora, as well as the extent of their reach, are shaped by the particular characteristics of this group vis-à-vis other Somali diasporic communities: namely, its small size and relatively high levels of integration and acculturation into the Danish host society.

English

The Horn of Africa is a term given to the geographic map in the North East part of the African continent. The region connects Africa to the outside world like the Middle East, Europe and Asia that indicates its geopolitical significance. Despite its geopolitical significance, the region remains one of the most unstable, underdeveloped and security wise volatile than any other region of Africa. These multiple challenges and interlinkages affect not only the region but also the international community in a variety of its forms; like the increased rate of piracy, terrorism, transfer of arms and light weapons, black marketing, and influx of refugee crises are few cases to mention. This calls for the involvement of responsible big powers. Currently, various powers are engaged in the promotion of peace and security in the region, of which China is one. In lieu of this, then, the objective of the paper is to identify and describe the areas where China is contributing its part in addressing regional disruption. Hence, the study has identified China’s contribution as plausible in the fight against piracy in the coastal areas of Somalia, peace keeping mission and post conflict peace building in Somalia, and mediating peace process in Sudan and South Sudan. Yet its predicament is found to be its inability to help pressure groups and civil society organization in their effort for same effect. Hence, it is recommended that China need to device ways in how manner best to work with nongovernmental institutions in ameliorating regional disruption. Key words: Peace and security, big power responsibility, peacekeeping, pirates.

The Failure of Peacebuilding in Somalia: The 'Myth' of the Nation-State

The Failure of Peacebuilding in Somalia: The 'Myth' of the Nation-State

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

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.

Turkey's Peacebuilding in Somalia: The Limits of Humanitarian Diplomacy

This study discusses the limits of Turkey's discourse and practice on humanitarian diplomacy with respect to its peacebuilding in Somalia. The Turkish model of humanitarian diplomacy attempts to find a balance between conscience and interest. It is multi-track in that it pursues diplomacy through official, civic and business channels. Although there is a humanitarian dimension to Turkey's policy in Somalia, there is also a dimension of interest and power, indicating a long-term projection of securing a role for itself in regional and international politics. As tools of humanitarian diplomacy, mediation and peacebuilding provide Turkey with regional and global prestige, status and leverage ensuring safe entry into volatile and dangerous post-conflict zones such as Somalia. Humanitarian diplomacy is an ideal that adds a human dimension to diplomacy. Its realization is limited by the realities on the ground, the interests of the intervening country, the public support for humanitarian diplomacy, the capacity of the intervening country as well as by the need for regional recognition and international support.

Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, political Islam and peacebuilding

This is a critical and politically engaged book on conflict and peace building in Somalia. Abdi Elmi begins by exploring the sources of the conflict, but the thrust of the analysis focuses on factors commonly viewed as obstacles to peace in the current context, and how these may be dealt with: clan divisiveness, religious militancy, and the roles of external actors. Setting out the ways in which clan identity structures and organizes Somali society, including conflict and violence, the book evaluates a range of strategies for addressing the endemic divisiveness in national politics. The author considers some form of clan-based power sharing inevitable at least in the short-term (while disapproving of the current ‘4.5’ formula, which gives equal quotas for representation in government to the four major clans and a half-point to a cluster of minority clans), in so far as it provides a mode of representation that carries legitimacy with most Somalis. But he emphasizes the need for longer-term strategies that promote a thickening of cross-clan identities based on Islam and Somali culture as a basis for peace building.

Understanding the Somalia conflagration: identity, political Islam and peacebuilding

Acknowledgements Preface Notes on Method 1 Introduction 2 Understanding the Sources of the Somali Conflict 3 Clan Identity and Implications for Peacebuilding in Somalia 4 Making Sense of Islam and Islamic Awakening in Somalia 5 Revisiting US Policy Toward Somalia after September 11th 6 The Role of Regional Countries and Organisations in the Somali Conflict 7 Peacebuilding Education: Contested Resource and Vehicle for Social Transformation 8 Role for the International Community: Options and Implications 9 Conclusions: Way Forward Further Research Recommendations Bibliography Index

Somali and Ethiopian Diasporic Engagement for Peace in the Horn of Africa

This article examines the complexities and multiple layers of diasporic engagement in homeland peacebuilding in Somalia and Ethiopia. The study challenges the negative perception of diasporas as conflict drivers and unscrupulous long-distance nationalists. It identifies three major contributions of diasporic engagement to peacebuilding in the conflictridden Horn of Africa. First, remittances from the diaspora enhance family economic survival, community stabilization, and economic activities in the absence of effective state institutions. Second, diasporic engagement enhances the space for greater contestation of ideas and broadens the range of political options for the homelanders. Finally, direct and indirect diasporic peace initiatives in the homelands, especially at the local level, have the potential to induce moderate social and economic development and hope for a brighter postwar future. This gives people a stake in their polity and contributes to peace.

Book Reviews

The Ecumenical ReviewVolume 52, Issue 1 p. 126-130 Book Reviews First published: 26 March 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6623.2000.tb00424.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: Wolfgang Heinrich, Building the Peace: Experiences in Collaborative Peace Building in Somalia, 1993–1996 Lalrinawmi Ralte, Florence Robinson, Corinne Scott and Nirmala Vasanthkumar, Envisioning a New Heaven and a New Earth William J. Collinge, Historical Dictionary of Catholicism Volume52, Issue1January 2000Pages 126-130 RelatedInformation

A peacekeeper's perspective of Peacebuilding in Somalia

After eradicating the humanitarian sufferings of the Somali people in early 1993, the international community launched a peacekeeping mission with a variety of peacebuilding components. However, due to the conflict with certain Somali factions at the outset, the United Nations Mission in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) was not able to fulfil its peacebuilding objectives. This article argues that reconciliation and peace are prerequisites for these efforts and that disarmament is an indispensable first step to longer‐term peace. Conversely, it further argues that peacebuilding is a sine qua non for a mission which aims to establish a long‐lasting peace in a war‐devastated country. Finally, if the international community is serious in assisting a country, it must be prepared to commit itself fully financially since peacekeeping and peacebuilding are expensive.