Understanding Somaliland’s regional stability: A comparative analysis on the prevalence and effects of spoilers on the contrasting situations observed in Somalia and Somaliland.

Sammanfattning: The deadly violence and ethnic conflicts which defined the 1990s period emphasized the need for an effective and viable approach to peacebuilding that shifted from mere containment to strategies that fostered the tenets of a sustainable peace. Nevertheless, the peace process can, and is, often hindered by actors who seek to undermine it for a myriad of reasons. This essay, aims to analyze how spoiling activity affects the Peace process and the resulting stability or instability. This will be achieved by applying a comparative approach that summarizes the peace processes that took place in Somalia and Somaliland between 1991 and 1995. After describing the peace processes, spoiling activity during that same period will be highlighted and analysed to determine how the actions of spoilers, and how spoilers were treated, contributed to the situation observed in Somalia and Somaliland. We will be analysing the negative and potentially positive consequences of spoiling activities as well as considering the outcomes of including or excluding them from the Peace process. The results of this essay shows that spoiler actions ultimately undermined and collapsed the peace process in Somalia, due in large to spoiling actor’s exclusion from the peace process. On the other hand, spoilers in Somaliland were generally included in the peace process which facilitated a more inclusive process that took heed of competing interests and grievances and aided in fostering a foundation needed for the creation of a sustainable peace.