ABSTRACT
The objective of the chapter is to explore how sources of revenue sustain the insecurity in Mogadishu, prolong the armed conflict and profit certain power holders. The article contributes to the scholarship exploring politics, conflict and security of developing countries in the context of the political economy. It also adds new perspectives to the wider debates and discussions on the extent to which war economies in securitization frameworks for war-torn societies and conflict-ridden states reproduce and maintain insecurity. The first section of the article presents the theoretical discussion and conceptual framework. The second section evaluates the origins of the Somali economy in the Cold War and outlines the effects of the state collapse on the emerging informal urban economy. The third section conceptualizes the recent reconstruction activities of Mogadishu and distinguishes state development from society-driven development. The fourth section identifies strategies of the participants and features for maintaining insecurity in Mogadishu through the continuation of the armed conflict. In evaluating the architecture of insecurity and the destabilizing effects of the war economy, this section explores the profits of the war economy which, when correlated with the political conflict, reveals a close connection between insecurity and business profits.
