ABSTRACT
The article presents the application of a concept of political territoriality in the case of Al-Shabaab. It first presents territoriality as a human strategy based on control of territory. Hereinafter, the set of criteria for the examination of political territoriality is presented. It concludes that given the development of Al-Shabaab, we can identify three distinct periods connected to the ′organization’s relation to territory: 2006–2008 – defiance; 2009–2011 – supremacy; and 2012–present – withdrawal. The issue of the deterritorialization of Al-Shabaab since 2012 is also connected to the need to enhance the strategies used against the group as it is becoming more connected to population and functional identification than territory.
