*Originally published in 2024 and preserved as part of our archive project.Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support our work.

Since Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in May 1991, the unrecognized state has established a democratic track record which only a few countries in the developing world can match. On November 13, 2024, Somalilanders cast their votes at two thousand polling stations across the country. Wadani, the largest opposition party led by Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Cirro), secured a clear victory with 63.92 percent of the vote, while the incumbent president received 34.81 percent. Shortly after Somaliland’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) called the election for Cirro, President Muse Bihi Abdi magnanimously conceded defeat, calling for national unity and expressing his willingness to ensure a smooth transition of power. On December 12, 2024, the outgoing and incoming presidents symbolically arrived together, laughing, at Cirro’s inauguration, marking yet another smooth and peaceful transfer of power following a democratic election in Somaliland. Since 1991, Somaliland has held four multi-party general elections, all of which have been described as free and fair by international observers. Most recently, international observers described the latest elections as “free, fair, and credible, despite the constraints of Somaliland’s financial and institutional resources”. Why is it then, that democracy works in Somaliland?

Since the publication of his 1961 ethnographic study A Pastoral democracy, British anthropologist I.M. Lewis has profoundly shaped the outside world’s understanding of Somali society, culture, and history. Throughout his long career, Lewis maintained that Somali society is best understood through the lens of the segmentary clan system, in which corporate groups conflict, leading to endemic violence. This interpretation construes Somalis as a fundamentally warlike people, with loyalty to their clan taking precedence over all else. According to the Lewisian interpretation, this ultimately explains the root causes of the civil war and the subsequent disintegration of the central state in 1991. Although anthropologists have long argued that cultures, customs, and traditions constantly evolve and change, Lewis stubbornly denied the possibility that colonialism negatively impacted Somali culture and society.

Despite obvious flaws in the........

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