Thursday, November 7, 2013

Why is the Horn Different?

The Rift Valley Institute published a lengthy essay on 28 October 2013 titled "Why Is the Horn Different?" by Christopher Clapham, one of the leading authorities on Ethiopia.  Clapham tries to answer the question:  Why is the Horn so peculiarly violent?  He makes the controversial assertion that "the fundamental problem of the Horn is that it is not part of colonial Africa; that this leads its peoples and governments to behave in ways different from those that other Africans have become used to . . . ."  Clapham posits that the second great problem is that the countries of the Horn derive their inability to fit into the standard model of African post-colonial statehood because of governance.  Under colonialism, the oppressors came from outside.  The countries of the Horn did not follow this pattern.