The Effective Governance Gap in EU Counter-Terrorism and Stabilisation Policy for Somalia

• Main Author: EJ Hogendoorn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ICCT | International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague 2017-12-01
• Series: ICCT Research Papers
• Online Access: https://icct.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Hogendoorn-The-Good-Governance-Gap-in-EU-Policy-for-Somalia-Dec2017.pdf

For more than two decades, the EU and other donors have spent billions of euros to rebuild the Somali state and, more recently, to counter the rise of the violent Islamist group Al Shabaab. But Somalia remains a weak, if not “failed state”, and progress is nowhere near commensurate with international support. This is because donors failed to generate enough Somali political will to reform dysfunctional and corrupt administrations that undermine their programmes, as well as counter-terrorism and stabilisation goals. To be more effective, the EU needs to become more adept at understanding local political dynamics as well as better at employing carrots and sticks to nudge Somali leaders to support governance reform and better administration. Otherwise, its expensive technical assistance and training programmes may have only temporary and limited impact.