Prototype for Somalia Research Paper: Outline

Outline

I. Introduction

a. Commonly used name of the country: Somalia (CIA, 2014)

b. Official name of the country: Federal Republic of Somalia; formerly the Somali Republic and the Somali Democratic Republic (CIA, 2014)

c. Geographical location: Horn of Africa; Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, east of Ethiopia (CIA, 2014)

d. Climate: mostly desert, monsoon season December to February in the northeast, moderate temperatures in north and hot in south; monsoon season May to October in the southwest; moderate temperatures in north and hot in the south, sweltering in the north, hot in the south; hot and humid with irregular rainfall between monsoons. (CIA, 2014)

e. Terrain description: mostly flat with rolling plateaus stretching to rising hills in the north (CIA, 2014)

f. Natural resources: uranium, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper (CIA, 2014), salt, natural gas; suspected oil reserves

g. Land issues: deforestation, soil erosion, desertification (CIA, 2014)

h. Country size: 637,657 sq km (CIA, 2014)

i. Elevation (CIA, 2014)

i. Highest: Shimbiris at 2,416 meters

ii. Lowest: the Indian Ocean, 0 meters

j. Relationship with neighboring countries

i. Djibouti seeks to be a neutral party, but often leans towards the side of Somali in hopes for peace (Mararo, 2009)

ii. Ethiopia – since the 1960s Somalia and Ethiopia have been arguing over rights to land and country boundaries (Calvocoressi, 2006)

iii. Kenya – since the 1960s Somalia and Kenya have been arguing over rights to land and country boundaries (Branch, 2011)

k. Sea access: Coastline of 3, 025 km (CIA, 2014)

l. Population: 10,428,043; 85th largest country (CIA, 2014)

II. Society

a. Population composition: (CIA, 2014)

i. Age: 44% 0-14 years, 18.9% 15-24 years, 31.2% 25-54 years, 2.3% 5-64 years, 2.3% 65 and over

ii. Females outnumber males in the youngest age group and two oldest age groups

iii. Median age is 17.7 years old

iv. Growth rate of 1.75% per year

v. Net migration rate is -9.51 people per 1,000, meaning people are leaving the country

vi. Life expectancy at birth is 51.58 years (49.58 for men and 53.65 for women)

vii. Largest urban area is Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, with 1.353 million people in 2009

viii. HIV/AIDS occurs in 0.5% of the population, with a total of 31,200 people in 2012

b. Tribal or modern: modern Sunni Muslim (CIA, 2014)

c. Linguistic characteristics: Somali (official), Arabic (official according to Transitional Federal Charter), Italian and English (CIA, 2014)

d. Religious characteristics: Sunni Muslim (official) (CIA, 2014)

e. Ethnic groups (CIA, 2014)

i. 85% Somali

ii. 15% Bantu, Arab, non-Somali

f. The relationship amongst ethnic groups: amicable, little diversity (CIA, 2014)

III. Economy

a. Prosperity level of the country: ranked 165th wealthiest country in the world (there are 196 countries total) (CIA, 2014)

b. Type of economy: largely based on livestock, money transfer companies, and telecommunications; industries include sugar refining, textiles and wireless communications, but many factories have been looted for parts and metals (CIA, 2014)

c. Debt and taxation

i. The country is currently $3.05 billion in debt to external countries as of December 31, 2011 (CIA, 2014)

ii. Taxation: there are currently no taxes for Somali citizens (CIA, 2014)

d. Imports: sugar, sorghum, corn, qat (a flowering plant), machined goods (CIA, 2014)

e. Exports: livestock, hides, fish, charcoal, bananas (CIA, 2014)

f. Currency: Somali shillings (CIA, 2014)

g. Stability of currency – historically very unstable, “The trading range for the Somali shilling in recent history has been roughly 8,900 to 41,000 shilling to the dollar” but with a trend towards becoming more reliable (Muth, 2012)

IV. Political Institutions

a. Type and scope of the national government (monarchy, president, prime minister; weak or strong): in the process of building a federal parliamentary republic (CIA, 2014)

i. The current chief of state: President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud, since 9/10/12 (CIA, 2014)

ii. Head of Government: Prime Minister Abdiwelli Skeikh Ahmed, since 12/21/13 (CIA, 2014)

iii. Deputy Prime Minister: Ridwan Hirsi Mohamed, since 1/17/14 (CIA, 2014)

iv. Cabinet appointed by PM, approved by the National Parliament; latest cabinet sworn in 1/22/14 (CIA, 2014)

b. Military status in politics: “These are the Somali National Army, Puntland Defence Forces, and the Somaliland Army and each of them has a separate commander-in-chief” (Ahmad, 2014)

c. Legislative body

i. The country has been party to agreements such as biodiversity, desertification, endangered species, the law of the sea and ozone layer protection, but has not signed any agreements (CIA, 2014)

ii. Two-tier National Parliament consisting of House of the People (275 seats elected by citizens) and Upper House (54 seats, elected by people of the federal member states) (CIA, 2014)

d. Judicial body: the legal system is mixed of civil law, Islamic law and customary law, which is referred to as Xeer (CIA, 2014)

i. Citizens able to vote at age 18 (CIA, 2014)

ii. Constitutional Court consisting of 5 judges including the chief judge and deputy judge (CIA, 2014)

iii. “Most regions have reverted to local forms of conflict resolution, either secular, traditional Somali customary law, or sharia Islamic law” (CIA, 2014)

e. Independence from the UK on July 1, 1960; celebrated with the Foundation of the Somali Republic holiday (CIA, 2014)

f. The latest constitution drafted on June 12, 2012, approved August 1, 2012, and is currently provisional (CIA, 2014)

V. Political Parties & Local Governments

a. Political parties: “numerous clan and sub-clan factions exist both in support and in opposition to the transitional government” (CIA, 2014)

b. Strength of local provinces/governments versus national government: there are 18 administrative regions (CIA, 2014), which presently do not have any strong voice in government (Calvocoressi, 2006)

VI. Conclusions

a. How is the country doing? – Extremely poor

b. Do citizens enjoy living here?

i. Rampant famine, recurring droughts, use of contaminated water causing health problems (CIA, 2014)

ii. Risk of infectious disease is very high (CIA, 2014)

iii. 32.8% of children are underweight (CIA, 2014)

iv. There are no education expenditures (CIA, 2014)

v. 37.8% of the population over the age of 15 can read and write (CIA, 2014)

c. Opinions from other countries: other countries are mostly hostile towards Somalia, putting the country on a constant high alert for international conflict

d. Safety: because Somalia is such a poor nation and its people are suffering from starvation and disease, looting and interpersonal violence is common as a means of survival (CIA, 2014)

e. Prosperity: Somalia has very little to offer other nations and has a dismal outlook for the future unless drastic changes are made to the government, law, and industry

f. Recent to future trends: Somalia’s history has been unpredictable and wavering; the outlook for the future is much of the same: instability mixed with intermittent calm

References

Ahmad, L. (2014). Somalia’s parallel armies. African Arguments. Retrieved from http://africanarguments.org/2014/03/03/somalias-parallel-armies-by-liban-ahmad/

Branch, D. (2011). Kenya and Somalia: Landscape of tension. Open Democracy. Retrieved from http://www.opendemocracy.net/daniel-branch/kenya-and-somalia-landscape-of-tension

Calvocoressi, P. (2006). Historical facts about Somalia’s relationship with its neighbors. Hiiraan. Retrieved from http://www.hiiraan.com/op/2006/sept/Historical-facts-about-Somalia%27s-relationship-with-its-Neighbours.aspx

Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). The World Factbook: Somalia. The Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html

Mararo, S. B. (2009). Djibouti – Bridge between African and Arabian states. Current Concerns. Retrieved from http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=804

Muth, K. (2012). A strong currency in Somalia: How and why. Global Policy. Retrieved from http://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/18/07/2012/strong-currency-somalia-how-and-why