Somalia’s isbaaro: Checkpoints and world-making beyond the state

Abdirahman Edle, Jethro Norman & Peer Schouten

Roadblocks & Revenues Working Paper Series #06

This working paper examines the dynamics of checkpoint authority in Somalia, focusing on how kinship, mobility and checkpoint practices intersect to shape political and social orders. The paper challenges the notion, gaining traction in the literature on taxation and conflict, that checkpoint governance is either an expression of state-like power or indicative of the state’s absence. Instead, it argues that checkpoints in Somalia—or isbaaro as they are locally called—are deeply embedded in the social fabric of clan society, where the practice of abanship—the brokerage of passage through clan territory—plays a crucial role. This brokerage not only facilitates trade but also reinforces clan identity and social differentiation.

This paper is the sixth in a new working paper series on Roadblocks and Revenues, a collaboration between the Danish Institute for International Studies, the International Centre for Tax and Development and the Centre on Armed Groups.