Reading "The Law of the Somalis" reminded me immediately of the scale of bigotry that exists towards Muslim and African cultures. While there are aspects of Somali law that violate contemporary gender norms among the educated world (as is the case in almost all traditional cultures, including European ones), this book shows just how effective, sophisticated, and aligned with nature are many aspects of traditional Somali clan law/custom. Indeed, prior to reading this book, I didn't really take "natural law" very seriously, thinking that it was simply self-justifying babbling by European philosophers and that because culture varied so much throughout the world that there were no "natural" laws. That said, in seeing Van Notten map Somali cultural norms onto natural law was extremely compelling (Van Notten had a sophisticated knowledge of European natural law theory); clearly Somali law had independently developed norms of property rights, exchange, tort, etc. that while different from European norms, nonetheless could be mapped onto natural law theory remarkably well.
Finally, although I had read anarcho-capitalist theorists, much of their work had seemed a bit far-fetched. "The Law of the Somalis" provides a concrete example of a legal system that also maps onto aspects of anarcho-capitalist theory with more immediacy than is the case with, say, medieval Iceland. While this book in particular has been ridiculed for claiming that present-day Somalia is a successful example of anarcho-capitalism, those critics either have not read the book or are blatantly dishonest. Van Notten makes a strong case that the violence in Somalia is the direct result of the attempt by the international system to force a central government on a culture that was functioning quite well without one for hundreds of years. From this perspective, the entire agenda of forcing nation-state central governments on peoples and regions where such a political structure may not be appropriate is profoundly evil. Given Van Notten's close analysis of the Somali situation, and how a majoritarian nation-state imposed from without provokes violence among clans that need not have existed, one comes to a deeper understanding of the extent to which many former colonies in Africa are violent in part because of forced top-down nation state majoritarian electoral democracy. In a region with tribes or clans that do not have traditions of civil co-existence and trust with other tribes, forcing them to work together under one "winner takes all" government exacerbates conflict. It creates a situation in which they compete to win, either by means of direct violence or by means of violence combined with elections, because they know they face a situation of either dominate or be dominated. Relatively peaceful co-existence is no longer an option, as it was before the top-down imposition of a nation-state structure.
Finally, Spencer McCallum's contributon at the end, which extends Van Notten's analysis to the possibility of a modern Free City by updating Somali clan law so that it can interact with the world of contemporary commercial law, is an exciting vision that urgently needs to be brought into reality.
A most unusual and enlightening book in many respects, highly recommended for anyone who is interested in Somalia, indigenous cultures, law, and an innovative vision of how to bring peace and prosperity to Africa.
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Anarchy doesnt have to be bad.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2017Verified Purchase
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Five Stars
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Xeerka Somaalidda
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