This study investigated how Somalis and, in some cases, external interveners, have negotiated the convergences and divergences between o Somali and imported understandings of governance and conflict resolution, and their accompanying structures, and processes, in the lands o f the Somalis. The study examined selected literature from a number o f fields, including nation-building, peace-building, democratization, and culture and conflict resolution. A qualitative research strategy involving comparative cases was employed to develop a conceptual framework. The data sources included academic, policy, and practitioner literature and documents, the lived experience o f the author as a member o f different communities, both intervener and Somali, and interviews with key informants. The data analysis included a thematic analysis o f the literature and the interviews, “ thick recall,” and conversations with Somali academic and professional peers for the purpose o f establishing the credibility o f the study.
A number o f tension points that served to illustrate and illuminate the incompatibilities between indigenous and imported assumptions and models were identified b y the study. These tension points included governance structures and processes, justice structures and processes, the role o f elders, the role of women, the role o f civil society, the role o f religious leaders, and the position o f minorities. The study described and compared how these tension points played out in three state-building contexts in the lands o f the Somalis: the international US/UN peacekeeping and nation- building intervention in the early nineties, the hybrid model state-building initiative in Somaliland, and the mixed external (Ethiopian) and internal hybrid model state-building initiative in the Somali Regional State under the federalist government of Ethiopia. The study concluded with a discussion o f the implications o f the findings and analysis, for theory, research, and practice related to state-building and nation-building interventions.