When is a State a State?: Exploring Puntland, Somalia

Abstract

This fragment was written in a context, which may seem familiar nowadays, where a number of African States were experiencing different crisis. Martin Doornbos advises us that these phenomena were not homogenous and that each state was in a different stage of crisis with independent circumstances and characteristics. Somalia was in a period of stagnation. It is a failed State in which elements of stateness nevertheless seem to reappear. For this reason this chapter concentrates on the case of Puntland, a Somali region where this phenomenon is taking place. It will analyze when a State is a State and if Puntland complies with the fundamental conditions that make it possible for it to be considered one.  It also asks us whether the path followed by Puntland could serve as a guide for a unified Somalia in the future.