Somaliland

Research and activites

Photo/illustration by Shutterstock, Getmilitaryphotos

Negotiating with jihadists? Assessing risks and opportunities

DIIS Auditorium

Why have we never seen peace negotiations with current or former affiliates of al-Qaeda or the Islamic State? And what could we expect to happen if such a strategy was in fact pursued?
Photo/illustration by Feisal Omar/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

DIIS Policy Brief

2024

Somaliland at the centre of rising tensions in the Horn of Africa
Photo/illustration by Photo by UN Photo/Tobin Jones copyright license

Journal Article

2023

Somali vernacular humanitarianism: Translocal emergency assistance during times of crisis

New article on the history and practices of local and diaspora support during crises in Somaliland
Photo/illustration by Finn Stepputat (background picture)

Livestreaming

Trade makes states: Governing the greater Somali economy

DIIS Auditorium

The control of trade and transport is key to statemaking. A new book suggests that this, rather than the control of people and territory, can make or unmake state projects in areas like Somalia. This seminar introduces the ideas behind the book
Book

2023

Trade makes states

The control of commodity flows can make and unmake state projects in the politically fragmented Somali territories, new book shows.
Article

2023

Conflict in Las Anod and Crisis in Somaliland

External Investment, Intensifying Internal Competition, and the Struggle for Narrative
DIIS Policy Brief

2022

No climate security without human security

Insights from Africa’s climate hotspots
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Web Article

2021

COVID-19 has transformed Somaliland’s remittance lifeline

Remittances were projected to crash at the start of the pandemic, but in Somaliland COVID-19 created an opportunity for digital disruption instead
DIIS Comment

2020

Tech and Trust Challenges

Emerging Trends in Somaliland Diaspora Response to Covid-19
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Blog

23 April 2020

Somaliland and Covid-19

Emerging Issues and Economic Impact
Journal Article

2019

The politics of trade corridors

Evidence from northern Somalia
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Working papers etc.

2019

Ports on the rise in Africa

Briefing Paper examines port investments in Berbera, Somaliland
DIIS Working Paper

2019

Stateless economics: the limits of informal institutions

New DIIS Working Paper on institutions in Somali livestock trade
DIIS Working Paper

2019

Goats versus cell phones

Cross-border trading in the Ethio-Somaliland corridor
DIIS Report

2017

Urban Insecurity, Migrants and Political Authority

Insights from Nairobi, Beirut, Hargeisa and Yangon
DIIS Working Paper

2017

From pirate ports to special economic zones

Towards a port-centric view of the Somali economy
Working papers etc.

2016

The business of state formation

Economy and state formation in Somali East Africa
Working papers etc.

2016

Collecting taxes in Somaliland

How bureaucrats create fiscal revenue in an unrecognised state
Working papers etc.

2016

How to study economic governance in areas of limited statehood

Overview of approaches from economic anthropology
Working papers etc.

2016

A gateway to recognition

Hargeisa airport plays a role in Somaliland's state project
DIIS Working Paper

2016

The trouble with undiscovered oil in Somalia

Undiscovered oil in Africa can fuel conflict and political instability
DIIS Report

2015

Security in fragile states requires processes of reconciliation and reconstruction

New DIIS Report on the security dynamics in DR Congo, Somaliland, Mali and Niger
DIIS Report

2014

Foreign aid in countries of conflict
1 October 2013

Peace and justice promotion in Somaliland

- beyond legalist approaches
Working papers etc.

2009

Khat, conflict and state-building in Somaliland

New DIIS Working Paper examines the economic and political role of khat in Somaliland

Photo/illustration by Photo by UN Photo/Tobin Jones copyright license

Journal Article

2023

Somali vernacular humanitarianism: Translocal emergency assistance during times of crisis

Ahmed Musa & Nauja Kleist

Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 22

Download (pdf, 284.2 KB)
Book Chapter

2023

Raising fiscal revenues

The political economy of Somali trade taxation

Ahmed Musa, Kirstine Strøh Varming & Finn Stepputat

Trade makes states. London: Hurst Publishers
Book Chapter

2023

Tilly in the tropics

Trade and Somali state-making

Finn Stepputat

Trade makes states. London: Hurst Publishers
Book

2023

Trade makes states

Governing the greater Somali economy

Finn Stepputat
Article

2023

Conflict in Las Anod and Crisis in Somaliland

External Investment, Intensifying Internal Competition, and the Struggle for Narrative

Jethro Norman

African Arguments

Read publication (external link)
Book Chapter

2023

Introduction

Trade and state formation in Somali East Africa and beyond

Finn Stepputat

Trade makes states. London: Hurst Publishers
Journal Article

2019

Politics of Circulation

The makings of the Berbera corridor in Somali East Africa

Finn Stepputat & Tobias Hagmann

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space , 37

Read publication (external link)
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Working papers etc.

2019

Berbera Port

Geopolitics and Statemaking in Somaliland

Warsame Ahmed & Finn Stepputat

Download (pdf, 375.6 KB)
DIIS Working Paper

2019

From trust to oligopoly

Institutional change in livestock trade in Somaliland after 1991

Ahmed Musa

Download (pdf, 696.3 KB)
DIIS Working Paper

2019

Shoats and smart phones

Cross-border trading in the Ethio-Somaliland corridor

Asnake Kefale

Download (pdf, 1.4 MB)
DIIS Report

2017

Urban insecurity, migrants, and political authority

Nairobi, Beirut, Hargeisa and Yangon

Helene Maria Kyed, Finn Stepputat, Peter Albrecht, Lars Erslev Andersen & Maya Mynster Christensen

Download (pdf, 2.3 MB)
DIIS Working Paper

2017

From pirate ports to special economic zones

Violence, regulation and port-making in the Somali peninsula

Jatin Dua

Download (pdf, 700.2 KB)
Working papers etc.

2016

Corridors of Trade and Power

Economy and state formation in Somali East Africa

Tobias Hagmann & Finn Stepputat

Download (pdf, 846.2 KB)
Working papers etc.

2016

On taxes and suspicion

Ambivalences of rule and the politically possible in contemporary Hargeisa, Somaliland

Jorge Antonio Campos

Download (pdf, 716.9 KB)
Working papers etc.

2016

Governing economies in areas of limited statehood

anthropological perspectives

Jacob Rasmussen & Kirstine Warming

Download (pdf, 677.5 KB)
Working papers etc.

2016

Enter and exit

Everyday state practices at Somaliland’s Hargeisa Egal International Airport

Tobias Gandrup

Download (pdf, 813 KB)
DIIS Working Paper

2016

Concessions and Conflicts

Mapping Oil Exploration in Somalia and Ethiopia

Jakob Grandjean Bamberger & Kristian Skovsted

Download (pdf, 1.3 MB)
DIIS Report

2015

Protection and (in)security beyond the state

Insights from Eastern Africa and Sahel

Kasper Hoffmann, Louise Wiuff Moe, Lotte Pelckmans & Eric Hahonou

Download (pdf, 699.8 KB)
DIIS Report

2014

New approaches to foreign aid in conflict-affected countries and fragile situations

Finn Stepputat, Kasper Hoffmann, Louise Wiuff Moe & Rima das Pradhan-Blach

Download (pdf, 1.1 MB)
Chapter

2013

Relationality and Pragmatism in Peacebuilding

Reflections on Somaliland

Louise Wiuff Moe

Relational Sensibility and the ‘Turn to the Local’. Duisburg: Käte Hamburger Kolleg. Centre for Global Cooperation Research

Read publication (external link)
Journal Article

2013

Custom, contestation and co-operation

peace and justice promotion in Somaliland

Louise Wiuff Moe & Maria Vargas Simojoki

Conflict, Security and Development , 13

Read publication (external link)
Journal Article

2010

The ambiguity of khat in Somaliland

Journal of ethnopharmacology, 132

Read publication (external link)
Working papers etc.

2009

Governing khat

drugs and democracy in Somaliland

Download (pdf, 378.9 KB)
Journal Article

2008

Circumcising migration

gendering return migration among Somalilanders

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34

Read publication (external link)

Photo/illustration by Feisal Omar/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

DIIS Policy Brief

2024

Somaliland at the centre of rising tensions in the Horn of Africa

Jethro Norman

Download (pdf, 1.4 MB)
DIIS Policy Brief

2022

No climate security without human security

Insights from Africa’s climate hotspots

Louise Wiuff Moe & Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde

Download (pdf, 565.5 KB)
DIIS Comment

2020

Tech and Trust Challenges

Emerging Trends in Somaliland Diaspora Response to Covid-19

Ahmed Musa, Jethro Norman, Mark Bradbury, Mohamed Aden Hassan & Nauja Kleist

Photo/illustration by Shutterstock, Getmilitaryphotos

Negotiating with jihadists? Assessing risks and opportunities

DIIS Auditorium

Why have we never seen peace negotiations with current or former affiliates of al-Qaeda or the Islamic State? And what could we expect to happen if such a strategy was in fact pursued?
Photo/illustration by Finn Stepputat (background picture)

Livestreaming

Trade makes states: Governing the greater Somali economy

DIIS Auditorium

The control of trade and transport is key to statemaking. A new book suggests that this, rather than the control of people and territory, can make or unmake state projects in areas like Somalia. This seminar introduces the ideas behind the book
Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright license

Blog

23 April 2020

Somaliland and Covid-19

Emerging Issues and Economic Impact
1 October 2013

Peace and justice promotion in Somaliland

- beyond legalist approaches

Web Article

2023

Foreign aid and conflict in Somaliland

DIIS Experts

Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Jessica Larsen

Foreign policy and diplomacy

Senior Researcher

+45 9390 6099

jela@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Nauja Kleist

Migration and global order

Senior Researcher

+45 3269 8667

nkl@diis.dk
Photo/illustration by Lynggaardhansenfoto.dk

Ninna Nyberg Sørensen

Migration and global order

Senior Researcher

+45 3269 8961

nns@diis.dk