ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the historical background of the economic and political change in the Somali Republic, and focuses on the role of business-government partnerships in economic development and infrastructure investment. The current entrepreneurial climate in the Somali Republic has come about after the collapse of the Siad Barre's dictatorial regime that stifled new business formation with cumbersome regulations and government fiat. In spite of the significant successes of entrepreneurship and private markets in the stateless environment of the Somali Republic, economic theory predicts that private markets will fail to achieve efficiency or robust growth in regards to several areas of the provision of goods and services in an economy. In the case of the Somali Republic, the state has not been in a position to provide infrastructure or some public goods for more than two decades. Furthermore, the state has not been in a position to issue bonds or raise domestic funding for infrastructure development.
