The Political Economy of Military Rule in Somalia

David D. Laitin

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00053519

The Political Economy of Military Rule in Somalia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

David D. Laitin

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On 21 October 1969 the duly elected civilian Government of Somalia was overthrown by the armed forces. General Maxamed Siyad Barre took the helm of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, which proclaimed itself the ‘guardian and saviour of the nation’. The coup has been seen by some as the breakdown of a true democracy, and by others as the foundation of a ‘socialist progressive society’. The egalitarian Somalis have now experienced both a parliamentary democracy and a military oligarchy. Under which have they fared better? Now that President Siyad and the S.R.C. have been ruling Somalia for seven years, perhaps a sober assessment of their performance, in contrast to that of the civilian régime, is in order.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 1976 , pp. 449 - 468

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00053519 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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^{page 449 note 1} See Lewis, I. M., ‘The Politics of the 1969 Somali Coup’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), X, 3, 10 1972, pp. 383–408Google Scholar, for a suggestion of the former argument, and Africa (London), 18, February 1973, p. 52, for a contrary view.

^{page 450 note 1} See Lambert, W., Language, Psychology and Culture (Stanford, 1972), ch. 8.Google Scholar

^{page 450 note 2} The data are presented in my Politics, Language and Thought: the Somali experience (Chicago, 1977), forthcoming.

^{page 452 note 1} Barre, Maxamed Siyad, My Country and My People, Vol. I (Mogadishu, 1970), from a speech given on 24 10 1969Google Scholar.

^{page 452 note 2} Price, Robert, ‘Military Officers and Political Leadership: the Ghanaian case’, in Comparative Politics (Chicago), III, 3, 04 1971, p.363Google Scholar. Cf. also Huntington, Samuel, The Soldier and the State (New York, 1957)Google Scholar, and Finer, S. E., Man on Horseback (NewYork, 1960), especially pp. 21–2Google Scholar.

^{page 453 note 1} Price, loc. cit. p. 371, gives comparable figures for Ghana.

^{page 453 note 2} Interview with Castagno, A. A., Africa Report (New York), 12 1971, p. 23Google Scholar.

^{page 454 note 1} Siyad, op. cit. Vol. 2 (Mogadishu, 1972).

^{page 455 note 1} Dawn (Mogadishu), 29 October 1971.

^{page 455 note 2} Siyad, op. cit. Vol. I.

^{page 458 note 1} Siyad, op. cit. Vol. 2, from a speech on 23 Feburary 1971.

^{page 458 note 2} Ibid. from a speech on 4 July 1971.

^{page 459 note 1} U.N. Statistical Yearbook of International Trade (New York), 1965 and 1970–1971, also U.N. E.C.A., Summaries of Economic Data: Somalia, January 1975.

^{page 460 note 1} Dawn, 3 November 1972.

^{page 460 note 2} Davidson, Basil, ‘Somalia in 1975: some notes and impressions’, in Issue: a quarterly journal of Africanist opinion (Waltham, Mass.), V, 1, Spring 1975Google Scholar.

^{page 460 note 3} Cahill, Kevin M., ‘Africa's Flight from Drought Ends in Somalia’, in New York Times, 13 07 1975.Google Scholar

^{page 461 note 1} Africa Diary (New Delhi), 12–18 March 1975.

^{page 462 note 1} Siyad, op. cit. Vol. I, from a speech on 17 February 1970.

^{page 462 note 2} Published by the Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Mogadishu, June 1974.

^{page 462 note 3} Davidson, bc. cit.

^{page 462 note 4} Siyad, op. cit. Vol. 2, from a speech on 20 October 1970.

^{page 463 note 1} See Wolczyk, A., ‘Il “Socialismo” Somalo: un industria per il potere’, in Concretezza (Rome), 1 01 1972Google Scholar, for a critical Marxist interpretation of Siyad's socialism.

^{page 464 note 1} U.N. E.C.A., Summaries of Economic Data: Somalia, January 1975.

^{page 466 note 1} Somali Democratic Republic, Ministry of Education, Annual Report (Mogadishu, 1971), p.31.

^{page 466 note 2} Cf. Nyerere, Julius, ‘Education for Self-Reliance’, in Freedom and Socialism/Uhuru na Ujamaa: a selection from writings and speeches, 1965–1967 (London, 1968)Google Scholar.

^{page 466 note 3} Current Statistical Trends in Somali Education, 1966–71.

^{page 466 note 4} Statistics of Education in Somalia, 1971–72, Department of Planning, May 1972, mimeographed.

^{page 467 note 1} Cf. Price, loc. cit. p. 377.

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