ABSTRACT
State-building is one of the most pressing global policy issues and a central aspect of the external engagement with domestic governing mechanisms. Even though it is often conflated with state formation, state-building is actually only its institutional part, namely efforts aiming at the construction or reconstruction of institutions of governance. Instead of technocratic endeavors, this chapter illustrates their political character, that is, the impacts of state-building projects in creating particular kinds of government. This chapter illustrates the role of state-building in restructuring regimes, whereby state-building efforts in Mogadishu are taken as an emblematic example. By looking at the main challenges and priorities in the successive state-building strategies, I highlight some constant characteristics of the regime in Mogadishu, namely a privatized government and economy, the gradual outsourcing of its main services, and the prioritization of militarization.
