Failed states push societies toward familism and alternative control organizations

Evidence

As in Somaliland, the absence of formal modern institutions of government in the region led to an enhancement of the duties and power of local lineage elders (collectively known as isimadda), especially those presiding over a diya-paying group and directly concerned with the administration of customary law. As elsewhere in Somalia and Somaliland, the de facto power of these roles has also inevitably implied a strengthening in the importance people attach to clanship. In articulating clan identity today, as Helander records, it is usual to refer first to lower-level genealogies and segments, a procedure captured in the phrase ‘we have gone to the bottom’ (hoos baan u tegneey). With such grassroots leadership so heavily engaged in trying to cope with contemporary problems, the need for stronger, higher-level coordination has led to a strengthening of the supreme clan leaders (the isimadda), chaired by the highest traditional authority, Abdullahi Boqor Muse, ‘King Kong’, who played a prominent role in S.S.D.F. congresses. This has promoted a new trend for smaller lineages to create their own isin to represent them at higher clan levels, leading to a proliferation of ‘traditional’ leaders. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 666 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Collapse of state institutions strengthened lineage elders and clan identity — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 666; Failed states will revert to concessionary economics bypassing national governance — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 334

Related

• Collapse of state institutions strengthened lineage elders and clan identity (similarity 0.90)
• Loss of central authority leads to widespread societal chaos (similarity 0.87)
• Weak formal institutions strengthened Somali lineage elders and clanship (similarity 0.87)
• Transferring civil servants on clan grounds only strengthens tribalism (similarity 0.84)
• Somalia’s government weakened clan and religious authorities to build the modern state (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Collapse of state institutions strengthened lineage elders and clan identity #exemplifies (0.95) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 666