Tax Relations in Contexts of Fragility: A Case Study of Somalia

This paper examines fiscal relations in contexts of fragility. It focuses on the tax relationship between the post‐transitional Somali government and advanced businesses in the telecommunications sector, which emerged during the period of state collapse. The paper poses two specific questions. It asks why such dominant economic players would pay taxes to a state that, per standard tax theory, had limited authority, legitimacy and capacity to deliver ‘reciprocal returns’ or collective goods and services. Second, for a sector that had emerged in the context of statelessness, it interrogates whether some level of state capacity had become ‘pivotal for its business’. In doing so, the paper assesses the impact of fiscal relations on broader state‐building dynamics.