Embed Notice

What happened in Somalia is what happens in every state: competition between sub-state actors for power and resources. Sometimes this competition is peaceful and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes intra-state violence is abrupt (the coup in Gabon) and sometimes it’s drawn-out (the Yugoslav wars). Sometimes intra-state violence is orderly with well-defined sides and clear front lines (the US Civil War) and sometimes it’s a chaotic mess (Somalia and Syria).

But in all of these cases, we’re talking about sub-state actors—elements of the state itself—fighting each other for the power and prerogatives of the state, not the absence of the state.

8/