Shrapnel Country: An Alternative View of the 2007 Somali Intervention

摘要

The multinational (that is, Ethiopian and US) intervention in Somalia has attracted a great deal of comment and criticism. However, despite its flaws, this intervention may yet have a positive impact. That, certainly, is a contrarian premise; that this intervention, which was done for all the wrong reasons, could yet be the harbinger of an imperfect peace. Such a view counters the apocalyptic, 'perfect storm' analogies common to analyses of the Horn. The Horn - and Somalia in particular - as the site of positive transformation? America and Ethiopia as 'force multipliers' of order and progress? Since 2003, such views have been an aberration. However, now may be the time to think the unthinkable - namely, that the current Somali experiment in power-sharing might just work; that it could have a positive effect on the political architecture of the region; and that it could have a beneficial impact on the United States itself by helping to heal the wounds of the third American 'civil war'.