Since 1991 Somalia has experienced the complete collapse of its central government, the death or displacement of at least two million people, and a brutal civil war that has destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and productive capacity.

Why did a country whose people shared a common language, religion, and culture fragment so deeply? Most explanations have stressed the divisive effects of personalities, clan affiliations, or Cold War competition, but in this book, the contributors examine issues of land and resources as key ingredients in the politics of modern-day Somalia and in the events that precipitated the civil war.

Drawing on evidence of disputes over land rights and natural resources that date back several decades, they add a critical new dimension to our understanding of factional politics and ethnic/regional rivalries in Somalia. Local case studies further reveal the tensions between village politics and state policies and between local and national land use practices. They provide invaluable data on rural life, interethnic relations, and resource struggles in Somalia.