The Collapse of Somalia and Economic Considerations Essay

The history of Somalia is a bloody one, filled with failed occupation, anarchy and civil war. Early Somalia established itself as a merchant state. Its key geographical location by the natural strait between the Horn of Africa and Yemen made it a focal point for trade.This essay will explore the history of internal struggles of the Somalilands and its many wars. It will investigate the colonial influences and conflicts between Somalia and its imperial occupiers and how these influences set the stage for future conflicts between the clans. Also, it will attempt to define the reasons why Somalia has become a failed state. The importance of United States foreign policies will be discussed as they have

Somalia is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the east. With the longest coastline on the continent, its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains, and highlands. It is made up of the former British Protectorate of Somaliland and Italy’s former Trust Territory of Somalia. Somalia’s modern history began in the late 1800’s, when European powers began to trade and settle in the Somalia area. These events and the events that occurred during the 20th century helped shape the modern Somalia government and culture today.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s violence in Somalia was getting worse as the days went by. This violence allowed warlords from the regions of Somalia and, in turn, go to war with one another. Images of the war showing starving children called for a response from the United States. The United States government sent supplies of food to the needy. However, these warlords got to the food trucks first. This resulted in President George H.W. Bush sending in troops to make sure that the supply lines could reach these desperate people in need of our help. As violence arose in Somalia United States citizens began to question whether or not it was our place to be there.

In order for countries and states to run efficiently and effectively, they need a system to make sure that chaos is not created. Some countries and states use a political system called "democracy" in order to run things smoothly. What is a democracy? Karl and Schmitter (1991, 76) say that "Modern political democracy is a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives". Basically to be considered democratic, citizens of the country vote and elect an official who represents his/hers people's expectation and needs publically (Schmitter and Karl 1991). They compete with other officials for positions

Arizona State University (ASU) liberty database holds thousands of different articles, for all your needs. The article State Failure, State-Building, and Prospects for a “Functional Failed State” in Somalia, by Ken Menklaus has been recorded to be cited 5 times in all databases within Social Science, Emerging Sources, and in a book. (all data stated within the ASU’s library database) the credibility of the article is not just proven by being part of ASU’s vast collection of articles but also by the man that wrote the article. Reading the article will take time, it’s an article that without a boundless understanding of the subject would sound senseless to the reader. Author Ken Menklaus is a Professor of Political Science at Davison College,

In the late 1800's, European imperialism came to Somalia. Particularly in ranges far from the drift, they battled violently. At last, a large portion of Somalia came to be under the control of Britain, France or Italy. World War II realized further battling in the area, as Somalia's sea get to is vital. After World War II, Italy, Britain and USA stayed included in overseeing Somalia. In 1960, the Somali Republic was set up with a regular citizen government.

Involvement of the United Stated in the eastern African country of Somalia in the early 1990s began as humanitarian aid and relief. Operation Provide Relief commenced in August of 1992 to aid United Nations forces in getting food and supplies to the Somali Civilians. As the situation in Somalia escalated, it became clear that more direct involvement would be necessary. Thus, Operation Restore Hope began in December, 1992. Once the situation had stabilized sufficiently, the US relinquished command back to the UN. Soon after, the situation degraded once again leading to the deployment of Task Force Ranger and resulting in the battle that would later become known as “Black Hawk Down”.

Somalia is located in Eastern Africa,bordering the gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, east of Ethiopia. The country bordering countries are Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.The Gulf of Aden , lies to the North of Somalia separating the country from Yemen.The eastern coast faces directly the Indian Ocean . The country lies Between latitudes two degrees South and twelve degrees North, and longitudes forty one and fifty two East. The country has a total area of 627,337 square kilometers of land and about 10,320 square kilometers of water .Somalia’s climate is tropical with little seasonal change in the temperature, approximately from 75 to 88 Fahrenheit in the low areas, it has two rain seasons with an average annual rainfall estimate of 28 cm . Overall the weather conditions of Somalia through the year remains hot and dry and droughts are very frequent.Somalia’s landscapes are mainly desertic, and the terrain is mostly flat with some plateaus , plains and highlands in the north. The land vegetation is mainly composed by scrublands , also called heathland or chaparral.About 25 percent of the country is desert, usually consisting of gravel mixed with some vegetation and sand and which extend along most of Somalia northern central coast into the interior of the country.

Somalia’s pirates did not start off as desperate bandits. Instead, they were once as Somalia’s fishermen. So what happened? Due to the second phase of the Somali Civil War, the government of Somalia stopped functioning in 1991, the Somali coastline and waters “have become the site of an international ‘free for all,’” which many fishing fleets from around the world were stealing Somali goods and stocks, as well as dumping toxic waste materials. Somali fishermen were forced over the years to defend their fishing expeditions, many of them were forced to become pirates to use extreme measures to take back what it is theirs. Such extreme measures include hijacking ships and unlicensed fishermen who crosses their path, and hold them for ransom.

Al-Shabaab as a terrorist group poses a significant threat in Somalia and in the global community. This paper will start by discussing the background. In this part the paper will show how the group has evolved from Al-Ittihad Al-Islam (AIAI) to the Islamic Court Union (ICU) and lastly to Al-Shabaab. Before discussing the group’s threat of national security, homeland and international, this paper will provide the conceptual meaning of key terminology, such as national security, homeland security, international security and globalization. It is important to understand these concepts before moving toward the main argument of the paper. After providing the framework for key concepts, the paper will discuss the group’s threat to Somalia in two areas, national security and homeland security. The paper will go further and identify the threats posed by the group on other nations’ homeland security and international security. We will use East African countries and the United States examples. The paper will provide evidence to support how globalization has shaped and fueled the threats from Al-Shabaab. It will then discuss the primary response from the United States and from African countries through AMISOM. The paper will provide the way forward and suggestions for the response of the international community to Al-Shabaab. In conclusion, we will try to alert the international community that although the group has been experience hard times in Somalia, it is unwise to

In early 1991, Somalia fell into a state of civil war, precipitating a catastrophic famine (Baum 188). Almost two years later, in late November 1992, following a year in which the United States first resisted intervening altogether and then did so only relatively modestly, President George H.W. Bush decided to launch a large-scale, American-led military intervention termed Operation Restoration Hope (Baum 188). Less than a year later, amid rapidly deteriorating public and congressional support for the mission, President Bill Clinton announced his intent to end U.S. involvement in Somalia (ibid.). While there were successes under the Bush administration’s limited aims to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, the Clinton

Somalia is on the eastern part of Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, east of Ethiopia. It is almost five times the size of Alabama and it is slightly smaller than Texas. Before being Somalia the country was divided into three parts: British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland and French Somaliland. The Italian part and the French part joined together and made Somalia. The French part became an independent country called Yibuti. From the unification in 1960 until 1969 the president was Abdirashid Ali Shermarke. He was assassinated. In 1969, a coup headed by Mohamed Siad Barre ushered in an authoritarian socialist rule characterized by the persecution, jailing, and torture of political opponents and dissidents. After the

For centuries, Somalia culture was different from other countries in Africa for the fact that it was not made up of a collection of tribes, but of homogeneous people. To survive,

In 1969, Mohamed Barre seized power and became the ruler of Somalia. He ushered in socialist views of nationalized businesses and cooperative farms. Government positions in his regime went to clans loyal to him, despite his regime’s outwardly anti-clan laws.

Since their indirect elections on September 12, 2012, and despite the fragile regional security situation of the Horn of Africa, Somalia has continued to experience significant and sustained progress towards security stability in their country. In order for Somalia to succeed as viable and trusted state, the United States (US) as well as the International Community should not allow another security stability failure in Somalia. The US and the International Community must focus on helping to sustain Somalia’s efforts against the fight of the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization, help to counter piracy, and to help build capacity and capability in the Somali government and its institutions. While at the same time