Isbaaro: Checkpoints and World Making beyond the State in Somalia

This article examines the dynamics of checkpoint authority in Somalia, focusing on how kinship, mobility and checkpoint practices intersect to shape political and social orders. Challenging the notion that checkpoint governance is either an expression of state-like power or indicative of the state's absence, the authors argue that Somali checkpoints (isbaaro) must be understood in relation to the militarization and commercialization of clan-based institutions. The article draws on participatory cartography and semi-structured interviews with more than 80 Somali road users to contend that checkpoints serve as sites of social navigation and identity formation, reflecting broader historical and contemporary struggles over mobility and trade. This dynamic is understood through the principle of schismogenesis, the process of social division and differentiation whereby fiscal disagreements drive kinship groups to distance themselves from one another, resulting in new political forms and identities, while also entrenching political-economic marginalization along clan lines. Checkpoints thus offer a locus for observing the gestation of some of the more complex and fluctuating political dynamics of the Somali territories that have long confounded analysts, international practitioners and policy makers, helping to explain the persistent challenge of state building in Somalia.