ABSTRACT
Ethiopia and Somalia have endured a complex and difficult relationship since the decolonization of Somaliland and Italian Somalia in 1960, when both former colonies came together to form the Republic of Somalia. Political tension has primarily revolved around Somalia’s irredentist agenda of establishing a Greater Somalia state and Ethiopia’s determination to ward off this threat to its territorial sovereignty: Somalia’s irredentist claims would swallow up one-fifth of Ethiopia’s territory.1
