ABSTRACT
Somalia’s late colonial and early independence periods have rarely been assessed through the lens of political violence, yet that optic has potential to shed new light on previously underappreciated aspects of the country’s modern history.1 This is especially important for a country that since the outbreak of civil war and state collapse in 1991 has witnessed the extensive and at times uncontrolled use of political violence. A clearer understanding of how violence was applied in the period prior to the 1980s might help clarify what constitutes a genuine transformation in the use of violence in Somali politics since 1991 and what in fact reflects continuities from earlier decades.
