This working paper draws on community-led reflection to explore how communities along the Somalia–Kenya border navigate pervasive violence and negotiate order in an environment marked by decades of conflict, state neglect, and shifting power dynamics. It documents how ordinary citizens – fending for themselves amid continuous insecurity – use a ‘middle way’ that blends customary governance, community self-reliance to deliver essential public goods, and negotiation with both state and insurgent forces to navigate the dangers of the civil war.
Navigating Violence and Negotiating Order in the Somalia–Kenya Borderlands
Communities along the Somalia–Kenya border navigate a landscape of war. Over decades of conflict – including civil war, insurgency, and counterinsurgency – local people have relied on their own means of governance and mutual support to repair the damage and maintain life and livelihood.