Paper short abstract:

This research project examines the dominance of returning diasporic elites in contemporary Somali political systems, looking empirically at their independent impact on systems of elite bargaining and politics of distribution across the pre-federal Somali territories.

Paper long abstract:

Hitherto under-researched in state-building literature on Somalia is the effect of diasporic elite return on divergent political trajectories across the Somali territories. Drawing on recent scholarship on returning diaspora in contemporary political systems (Ansoms 2009; Chalk 2008; Horwitz 2001; Wise 2006 among others) - and strongly rooted in recent academic research on elite change in Africa and the Arab world (Perthes 2004), political order construction in weak states, and political settlement theory (Khan 2005, 2008, 2010; Whitfield 2015) - this within-case comparative project examines the dominance (Ismail 2011) of returning diasporic elites in homeland politics and their independent impact (Pearlman 2014) on systems of elite bargaining and politics of distribution across the pre-federal Somali territories (Somaliland, Puntland and South Central). It proposes that lower degrees of internal sovereignty and moderate to higher degrees of external sovereignty in South Central and Puntland correlate to greater returning diasporic elite dominance and independent impact (as compared with Somaliland where internal sovereignty is higher and external sovereignty is lower); and that greater independent impact corresponds to more centralised decision-making, elite capture, and an alienation of rural agendas. This proposition is investigated empirically through document-based research, elite interviews, and a careful tracing of processes around diasporic elite return, towards building a middle-range theory on the individual and institutional practices of returning diasporic elites in conflict-affected or weak states more broadly.