ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapter of this book. The book describes the degree to which constitutional flexibility, rather than broader societal and environmental factors, may have led to the rise of 'successful' states, and to the decline of 'unsuccessful' states, by promoting stability. The model of the constitution does not necessarily mean any particular type of government, democratic, parliamentary, presidential, monarchical, or any other form that may be imagined, but rather the nature of the constitution. The book includes authoritarian, doctrinaire liberal, empires and supra-national entities, and mixed models. Post-colonial states generally, including Somalia, sought to emulate the strong government models of the West whether or not it was suited to their own particular circumstances. The authoritarian regimes of Eastern Europe in the late twentieth century depended for their existence on centralized planning, political control, and adherence to an anti-democratic ideology.
