# Al-Shabaab in Somalia (2013) by Stig Jarle Hansen: history and ideology, 2005 to 2012

> Stig Jarle Hansen's Al-Shabaab in Somalia (2013): its argument that the group is a hybrid of nationalism and jihadism, its structure, and how reviewers received it.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/books/al-shabaab-in-somalia-hansen/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The book

**Al-Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group, 2005 to 2012** is by **Stig Jarle Hansen**, a Norwegian scholar of international relations who had worked in Somalia since 2005, in Mogadishu and other regions ([CRASC review](https://arb.crasc.dz/index.php/ar/الأرقام/243-from-a-small-to-a-long-war-somalia-coping-with-al-shabaab)). It was published by Hurst in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) in 2013 (195 pages), with a paperback edition in 2016 also sold by Oxford University Press ([Bokus](https://www.bokus.com/bok/9781849042505/al-shabaab-in-somalia); [Schweitzer](https://www.schweitzer-online.de/en/buch/Hansen/Al-Shabaab-Somalia/9780190264826/A30004501/)).

## What it covers

The book runs from al-Shabaab's origins through the phases of its history between 2005 and 2012, including the period of the Islamic Courts and the years when the group controlled much of southern Somalia ([AUT library, table of contents](https://librarysearch.aut.ac.nz/vufind/Record/1335868/TOC)). Its central argument is that al-Shabaab is a **hybrid** organisation that combines a strong strand of Somali nationalism with the rhetoric and obligations of international jihadism ([London Review Bookshop](https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/al-shabaab-in-somalia-the-history-and-ideology-of-a-militant-islamist-group-stig-jarle-hansen)). The movement's history is also on [Al-Shabaab](/en/history/al-shabaab/).

## About the author

Hansen is based at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, where he led Norway's master's programme in international relations from 2010 to 2016. He later widened the comparison in **Horn, Sahel and Rift: Fault-lines of the African Jihad** (Hurst, 2019), which sets al-Shabaab beside groups such as Boko Haram and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and argues that these movements form through the meeting of local and global forces ([Hurst](https://hurstpublishers.com/?p=8798); [Agenda Bookshop](https://agendabookshop.com/products/horn-sahel-and-rift-fault-lines-of-the-african-jihad)).

## How it was received

- The Economist described it as a "succinct and definitive history", according to the publisher's material ([Better Read](https://betterread.com.au/book/al-shabaab-in-somalia-the-history-and-ideology-of-a-militant-islamist-group-2005-2012.do)).
- A review published by the Algerian research centre CRASC credited Hansen's long time in the field and the way his work differs from security-focused writing, and noted weaknesses, such as limited treatment of how Salafi Islam became rooted in Somali society ([CRASC](https://arb.crasc.dz/index.php/ar/الأرقام/243-from-a-small-to-a-long-war-somalia-coping-with-al-shabaab)).
- It was reviewed at the University of [Birmingham](/en/diaspora/birmingham/) and, for the 2016 edition, in Political Studies Review ([University of Birmingham](https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/publications/book-review-stig-jarle-hansen-al-shabaab-in-somalia-the-history-a/)).

## Where to read it

- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Al-Shabaab+in+Somalia+Hansen)

## Related pages

- [Inside Al-Shabaab (2018), Harun Maruf and Dan Joseph](/en/books/inside-al-shabaab-maruf/)
- [Islamist movements and transitional governments, 2000 to 2012](/en/history/islamist-movements-and-transitional-governments-2000-2012/)

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