This paper is concerned with the theoretical analysis of the legitimacy challenges faced by the federalist structure of the Somali state, as established with the 2012 constitution. Understanding federalism in Somalia, I argue, is not a simple question of political power distribution: there is also a dichotomy between a predominant European-based conceptualisation o...

None of the borders shaping modern African countries have existed in the same guise prior to the Europeans' arrival. Especially starting from the nineteenth century, European powers increasingly deprived lands in Africa of their native social organization, in pursuance of vital space for the colonial machinery. The boundary lines created throughout Africa are indee...