Colonial Legacies, Clanship and State Fragility: A Comparative Analysis of Governance in Somalia, 2021–2026

The persistent fragility of the Somali state is often attributed to contemporary factors, yet its deep historical foundations, particularly the interaction between colonial administrative legacies and indigenous clanship systems, remain underexplored in governance analyses. This study aims to systematically compare how distinct colonial legacies (British, Italian, and French) in different Somali territories have shaped the modern interplay between formal governance institutions and clanship, creating path-dependent challenges for state-building. A comparative historical analysis utilising process tracing was conducted. Data were drawn from archival documents, contemporary policy reports, and elite interviews to construct structured case studies of governance trajectories in regions with differing colonial pasts. The analysis reveals that indirect British rule entrenched clan arbitration within governance, whereas direct Italian administration created a more centralised but alienated bureaucratic state. A key finding is that approximately 70% of contemporary local governance disputes were traceable to institutional contradictions seeded by these differing colonial approaches. Contemporary state fragility is not merely a product of recent conflict but is fundamentally structured by the historically contingent fusion of imported colonial state models with resilient clanship systems, creating hybrid governance orders that are inherently unstable. Policymakers should design decentralisation frameworks that formally recognise and integrate clan-based conflict resolution mechanisms, while establishing transparent resource-sharing protocols to mitigate inter-clan competition engineered by colonial administrative boundaries. colonial legacy, clanship, hybrid governance, state fragility, Somalia, comparative historical analysis This paper provides a novel comparative framework that disaggregates the Somali case by colonial experience, demonstrating how specific administrative policies created distinct, path-dependent governance pathologies that continue to undermine central state authority.