Power and Internal and External Legitimacy: NGOs Navigating Somaliland’s Lack of International Recognition

• In Event: 30821 - Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 8

Abstract

Numerous countries in the world today, such as Somaliland, Kurdistan, and Taiwan, lack international recognition. Their governments operate with a high degree of autonomy and administrative capacity, their territories have been stabilized for many years, and each possesses a strong national identity. The refusal of most international organizations (such as the UN) and powerful states (such as the US) to recognize these countries constrains the capacity of their governments to participate fully in international governance. In a world system that puts a premium on statehood and sovereignty, it is uniquely difficult for NGOs operating within unrecognized countries to collaborate with and seek funding from the international community. Based on 2024 ethnographic fieldwork in Somaliland-- an unrecognized, democratic country in the north of Somalia-- and 97 interviews with members of Somaliland civil society, this paper addresses the question: what is the effect of a country’s nonrecognition– its lack of external legitimacy– on civil society? Ultimately, this project tracks how NGOs in Somaliland navigate a unique landscape of competing political legitimacy and power, and engages with theories of bureaucracy, world systems, civil society, and democratization and development.

Author

• Clare E Bath, University of Notre Dame