Governing Commodity Flows in the Somali Borderlands

The authors of this chapter scrutinize the processes and practices that shape the governance of cross-border trading within Somali East Africa. Focusing on livestock, sugar, charcoal, electronics, and other goods traded across the Somali-Ethiopian and Somali-Kenyan borders, the chapter analyzes the shifting roles of state and state-like authorities in regulating, facilitating, and interrupting the circulation of goods. The chapter highlights how Somali traders and a host of other actors along the Berbera and Kismayo corridors have specialized in maintaining the flow of goods, releasing them when they encounter friction(s), and putting them back into circulation.