Tilly in the tropics: Trade and Somali state-making

In this chapter, the authors discuss the book’s overall trade-makes-state framework in light of the state formation experiences of different (sub-)national Somali political entities. Building on Tilly’s lesser-known work on merchants and traders vis-à-vis emerging states, the chapter sets ‘Tilly in motion’ by exploring ‘politics of circulation’ involving nascent and aspiring state administrations in the Somali territories who seek to balance between the capture and the facilitation of commodity flows. In this optic, and contrary to the assumptions of internationally supported state building, existing statehood in the Somali areas resembles a federation of bigger and smaller city and trading states. With the prevailing prominence of revenues from transnational commodity circulation, and the continued fragmentation of the Somali territories, Somali state entities are likely to remain at the mercy of global terms of trade, of various policies of states in the region and abroad, and of external aid flows.