Book Review: When There Was No Aid: War and Peace in Somaliland

Abstract

"This book explores how popular discourses about war, peace, and international intervention structure the conditions of possibility to such a degree that even the inability of institutions to provide reliable security can stabilize a prolonged period of peace. It argues that Somaliland's post-conflict peace is less grounded in the constraining power of its in/formal institutions than it is in a powerful discourse about the country's structural, temporal, and physical proximity to war"-- Provided by publisher. Introduction : what if we don't intervene? -- The imperative of intervention -- Somaliland's relative isolation -- Self-reliance and elite networks -- Local ownership and the rules of the game -- War and peace in the independence discourse -- Conclusion : why aid matters less than we think.