Exploring Post-conflict Reconstruction in Somalia: Pulling apart or pulling together?

Somalia is experiencing the challenges of two-decades-plus of peace building efforts; challenges that come through protracted conflict. It is recovering from state collapse and moving into a unique post-conflict situation. The same can be said for the Somali mentality. The need, therefore, is not only for rebuilding institutions but also transforming peoples’ attitudes. Post-Conflict Reconstruction (PCR) is not a new phenomenon, but can be linked historically to the US-led Marshall Plan for the reconstruction and development of post-war Europe, and with reconstruction efforts in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and in Iraq thus the revival of the concept in the early twenty-first century. This article, which aims to examine PCR models and frameworks, briefly tracing the evolution of the concept and analysing some of the models and frameworks, is a critique of the EU-led New Deal for Somalia, a special arrangement for fragile states, as it tries to compare this aid effectiveness model and contrast it with the US-led Marshall Plan for Europe’s post-war reconstruction and development. The article argues for an effective PCR model and framework – like that of post-war Europe’s Marshall Plan – for the new Somalia.