Why is Somalia a Failed State?
According to the 2009 Failed States Index, Somalia ranks highest in instability for the second year in a row. The index ranks various political, economic, and social factors to calculate a nation’s volatility. While the reasons for Somalia’s breakdown are complex, a September 2009 National Geographic report indicates that a combination of geography, history, and clan dynamics have contributed to the nation’s instability. In 2004, The United Nations-backed TFG established a tenuously stable rule in the now semi-autonomous Somaliland, the northern region of Somalia. But, according the National Geographic report, the Islamic insurgent groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have taken over much of central and southern Somalia. Both the TFG and the Islamic insurgents claim dominion over Somalia, and war continues to this day. A Brief History of Somalia According to The World Book Encyclopedia, ancestors of the Somalis were converted to Islam in the ninth and 10th centuries. Arabs and Somalis fo
