Fallen State: Dissonance, Dictatorship and Death in Somalia FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book examines the problems of the first thirty years of African independence. Using Somalia as a case study, the author investigates the factors that have led to the present chaos. Somalia suffered the illnesses of other newly independent African states, including experiments in "democracy" based on the Westminster model and excesses in the parliamentary system. The military government which followed attempted to effect certain reforms encompassing higher literacy rates and greater participation of women in public affairs; but wars, juntas, and droughts have all conspired to defeat the new state. In the wake of economic collapse, regime legitimacy disappeared, and "ethnic" conflicts ensued. Peace among the warring clans and re-establishment of legitimate authority is still to come.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Assesses the two post-colonial regimes of Somalia, one democratic and one authoritarian, and analyzes Somali society, in an effort to discover to what extent indigenous social structures remained intact in post-colonial Somalia and whether they aided or inhibited governability. Concentrates on the northern nomadic clan families who represented 60-70% of the population as late as 1970, and whose subsistence pastoral society has been challenged by modern times. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
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