Free to decide their destiny? Indigenous resistance to external forms of socialist modernity in Siad Barre’s Somalia

Bibliographic Data

ID11188258
AuthorsRadoslav Yordanov (0000-0002-2082-1143, Harvard University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume42
Issue3
Pages543-559
Publication date2021-03-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThird World Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-6597 • E-ISSN: 1360-2241
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01436597.2020.1722096
OpenAlexW3009658426
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited10

Based on a wealth of original material from Russian and East European archives, in addition to Western primary sources, this paper focuses on the uneasy Soviet–Somali patron–client relationship in the 1970s. It traces the development of Moscow’s stake in Mogadishu since Mohamed Siad Barre’s coup d’état in 1969 and dissects largely futile Soviet attempts at embedding lasting presence in Somalia’s military ranks and security apparatus. As this paper shows, Somalia’s socialist experiment proved a challenging affair on multiple counts, not only for the Soviets but also for the African country’s leaders. Mogadishu’s turn to the left faced serious opposition from within Somalia’s own society, suffered from insufficient commitment and division within the state apparatus, and was confronted by local and international pressures coming from Arab and Western quarters. This cleavage strongly impeded the successful completion of the arduous tasks of socialism-building, resulting in short-lived and largely unsuccessful experiments at little understood social engineering

Communism · Destiny (ISS module · Economic history · Indigenous · Modernity · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · Somali · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law

Tools

Open DOI