Paper details
| Paper authors | Nisar Majid and Mohamed Jelle |
| In panel on | ‘Real’ Humanitarian Governance: Accountability, Advocacy, and Alternatives |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Gatekeepers and Governance: Operating Practices in Somalia
Somalia can be characterised today as a series of city-states, where governmental authority and humanitarian access is concentrated in urban areas and rural areas remain contested or out of reach, given the pervasive presence of the Islamist group, Al Shabaab. Recurrent humanitarian crises over several decades as well as the heavily securitised and ‘bunkerised’ operating context has contributed to the establishment of an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) business economy associated with widespread ‘gatekeeping’ practices; where networks of actors – national and international – profit from the distribution of resources. New technologies such as mobile cash disbursement, telephone-based accountability mechanisms and remote-controlled monitoring have enabled ‘gatekeeping’ to evolve and flourish as a governance practice. This paper will outline the contours of these arrangements, juxtaposing the everyday politics and practices of IDPs and ‘gatekeepers’ with those of the (Western) humanitarian culture and system in which they are embedded, drawing on multiple studies in which the authors have been involved, their longstanding personal experience in Somalia as well as ongoing reflections and discussions within the Somalia Humanitarian Observatory.
