ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the political economy of the region provides an understanding of the state of 'permanent emergency' in the sub-region. It focuses on the evolution of the regional environmental and development mechanism in the Horn in the 1990s and its expansion into the regional peace and security domain. The chapter analyses the role and contribution of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in facilitating civil war peace settlements in the region. It also analyses the role of institutions such as the United Nations, African Union, European Union and extra-regional actors in assisting the process of peacemaking and conflict management in the Horn. IGAD's preventive diplomacy has covered the facilitation of the Sudan and Somalia peace processes and civil war peace settlements, as well as attempted mediation of the Ethiopia-Eritrea war. The collapse of the state of Somalia and the outbreak of violent civil war and societal fragmentation in 1991 led to humanitarian emergencies.
