This thesis explores how leaders and officials of Somaliland and the Somali Federal Government (SFG) perceive Taiwan’s recent diplomatic overtures to Somaliland. The thesis also investigates how this new relationship affects Somalia-China relations, as well as Somaliland’s international recognition and the internal political dynamics in the Somali region. To achieve this, it combines perspectives from social constructivism, neoclassical realism, and the polity model. Using process tracing and Qualitative Content Analysis to examine a rich collection of data including official documents, speeches, and audio-visual materials. It finds that Taiwan’s engagement with Somaliland is perceived drastically differently due to divergent political visions and aspirations. Somaliland’s leadership and officials welcome Taiwan’s presence and hope to gain economic and strategic benefits from it. The SFG, on the other hand, strongly opposes Taiwan’s involvement in Somaliland and considers it a violation of its core interests. The thesis further argues that the Somaliland-Taiwan partnership will likely bring Mogadishu and Beijing closer together prompting them to counter Taiwan’s influence in Somaliland. Furthermore, it suggests that Taiwan’s support for Hargeisa will affect the political dynamics in the disputed northern borderlands where Somaliland claims sovereignty but faces challenges from local actors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-62182 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Duale, Sekeriya |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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