Somalia: Economy Without State (2003) by Peter D. Little: trade and livestock after 1991

The book

Somalia: Economy Without State is by Peter D. Little, an American anthropologist. It was published in 2003 by James Currey in Oxford (xviii and 206 pages) and by Indiana University Press in Bloomington, in the African Issues series (African Studies Review listing; Schweitzer Fachinformationen).

What it argues

Little looks at how Somalia's economy kept working after the government collapsed in 1991. He describes a "second" or informal economy based on trade across borders and smuggling, centred on markets for livestock and farm produce, and argues that Somalis adapted to the absence of a state with great resourcefulness. He asks whether statelessness necessarily means anarchy, and whether trade, money and investment can continue without a government (Schweitzer Fachinformationen).

The reviewer Tobias Hagmann, in African Affairs, wrote that Little brings together historical, ecological, social and political events in his account of the pastoral economy of the Lower Jubba region (World of Books, quoting African Affairs). The region is described on Lower Juba.

Chapters

1. Introduction to a Stateless Economy
2. Land of Livestock
3. The Destruction of Rural-Urban Relations
4. Tough Choices
5. Boom Times in a Bust State
6. Life Goes On
7. Conclusions: Somalia in a Wider Context

• Epilogue: In the Aftermath of September 11th

The epilogue places Somalia's economy in the context of the campaign against international terrorism after September 2001 (Schweitzer Fachinformationen). See Livestock exports and Hawala and money transfer companies.

How it was received

• Choice called it thorough, clearly written and well organised, and "highly recommended", and named it an Outstanding Academic Title (Awesome Books, quoting Choice).
• It was reviewed by Anna Lindley in the Journal of Refugee Studies in 2004, and in African Studies Review (Journal of Refugee Studies).

Where to read it

• Lending copy: Internet Archive
• In a library: WorldCat

Related pages

• Getting Somalia Wrong? (2012), Mary Harper
• Books about Somalis, 1991 to 2005