Transferring civil servants on clan grounds only strengthens tribalism

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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The nomads, indeed, remained as a refractory challenge despite energetic measures designed to bring them more securely into the fold. In 1974, the eight provinces into which the state had previously been divided were reconstituted as fifteen new regions, comprising seventy-eight districts, where necessary renamed to exclude tribal (or clan) names. Emphasis was placed on the settlement (digmo) as the basic unit of association and identification in a further effort to extirpate lingering lineage loyalties. And even among the nomads efforts were made to encourage people to regard the orientation centre at a regularly frequented water point as the hub of social and political activities. Marriages, which had traditionally involved rival (and often potentially hostile) lineages, were now to be conducted at a local orientation centre, with its resident community replacing the kin of bride and groom. It would be unrealistic to expect these measures to have made much immediate impact amongst the nomads. There was thus, inevitably, a considerable gap between theory and practice in the political life of the nomadic majority of the population. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 523 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Weak formal institutions strengthened Somali lineage elders and clanship; SRC administrative reorganizations failed to erase nomadic lineage loyalties — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 523; Collapse of state institutions strengthened lineage elders and clan identity — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 666 (+1 more)

Related

• SRC administrative reorganizations failed to erase nomadic lineage loyalties (similarity 0.91)
• Weak formal institutions strengthened Somali lineage elders and clanship (similarity 0.88)
• Collapse of state institutions strengthened lineage elders and clan identity (similarity 0.86)
• Failed states push societies toward familism and alternative control organizations (similarity 0.84)
• Somalia’s government weakened clan and religious authorities to build the modern state (similarity 0.81)
• Loss of central authority leads to widespread societal chaos (similarity 0.80)
• Somalis invented their clan system before colonial rule, not because of it (similarity 0.79)
• Somali nationalism drew strength from a democratic pastoral political tradition (similarity 0.79)
• British administration promoted elected tribal assemblies over hereditary clan chiefs (similarity 0.78)
• Abolishing client-tenant status fragmented Digil and Rahanweyn clan solidarity. (similarity 0.78)
• Post-1991 Somalia reverted to precolonial clan republic practices like the abban (similarity 0.78)
• The Somali clan system is flexible and compatible with modern life, not atavistic (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Collapse of state institutions strengthened lineage elders and clan identity #corroborates (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 666
• Weak formal institutions strengthened Somali lineage elders and clanship #expands (0.55)
• SRC administrative reorganizations failed to erase nomadic lineage loyalties #corroborates (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 523