Rethinking military intervention in Somalia: Towards a multi-scalar approach to conflict transformation

Abstract

Military operations in Somalia have continued for more than three decades without achieving durable stability. This paper argues that traditional state-centred approaches to security have been ineffective because they operate at a single scale, disconnected from the local, national and regional interrelations that sustain the conflict cycle. Drawing on Multi-Level Conflict Theory, Human Security Theory and the Hybrid Peace Framework, the paper examines the disjuncture between externally led military activity and indigenous governance structures, civilian welfare, and the long-term capacity of Somali institutions. It adopts a qualitative, desk-based research design, analysing secondary literature, institutional reports and policy documents through thematic and comparative content analysis organised around the three theoretical lenses. The review shows that structural marginalisation, clan-based inequality, and the geopolitics of the Horn of Africa combine to reproduce violence, and those customary xeer institutions and clan elders offer alternative sources of legitimacy that external actors routinely bypass. Findings indicate that sustainable conflict transformation requires vertically integrated strategies linking grassroots reconciliation, national institution-building and regional diplomacy, together with horizontal coordination across security, development and governance interventions. The paper proposes a multi-scalar intervention model that combines formal and informal security sector reform, privileges procedural justice over tactical advantage, and centres Somali agency in designing peace pathways that address the causes rather than only the symptoms of violence. The paper concludes with recommendations directed at three audiences. Troop-contributing missions should reorient their operational mandates toward multi-scalar coordination, establish community liaison structures staffed by Somali cultural advisors, and institutionalise independent accountability mechanisms for civilian harm. The Federal Government of Somalia should sequence territorial recapture with the deployment of clan-balanced security forces, the rapid restoration of local administration and justice services, the formal integration of xeer institutions and elder councils into security-sector oversight, and conflict-sensitive economic reconstruction. Regional and international actors should operationalise an IGAD-anchored coordination protocol among troop-contributing and neighbouring states, and reorient donor evaluation frameworks and funding cycles away from short-term tactical metrics toward indicators of human security, institutional legitimacy and procedural justice.