ABSTRACT
Geography, recurrent external interventions and the complex web of clan structures all help define the modern history and politics of Somalia. The fragmentation of Somalia continued into the 1890s, when Ethiopia made several attempts to annex Somali land. The fragmentation of society through the creation of unequal socioeconomic relations within Somalia as a function of colonial oppression as well as the fragmentation of Somalian territory worked together to alter the traditionally nomadic lifestyle of the Somali people in drastic ways. The change in Somalia’s political status sent tremors throughout the territory as a proliferation of organizations reflecting parochial clan interests and incoherent ideologies arose. American policy makers shared with the Italians the belief that the West’s ability to prevent the transformation of Somalia by the Soviet Union into a military parking lot, from which it could make forays in multiple directions, was contingent upon its ability to cultivate and sustain a pro-Western orientation among the emerging Somali political elite.
