ABSTRACT
In the absence of state institutions capable of overseeing social policy, civil society organizations (CSOs) are, in Somalia, attempting to compensate for the governmental vacuum. In particular, since the advent of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Mogadishu in 2006, the phenomenon of religious associations made its appearance in the literature. In this context, many questions have been asked about the relationship between religious aid organizations (so-called Islamic NGOs) and Islamist movements, which, in the wake of the fall of Siad Barre (1991), became increasingly dominant in Somalia. To what extent were Islamic NGOs linked to the Islamist movements that were increasingly influential in Somali political life? How did they contribute to the country's development and the construction of a social and political system standing as an alternative to their official counterparts?
