This study produces nuanced insights for understanding the barriers and opportunities to women’s participation in political leadership and representation in Somaliland. The study focuses on the complex and interwoven individual, social, economic, and political issues affecting women's quest for political leadership and representation. We also correct certain misconceptions about women’s political participation.

Somaliland has made commendable achievements in upholding democratic processes, especially elections. Since the unilateral dissolution of the 1960 union between Somaliland and Somalia, in 1991, Somaliland has held three presidential elections, two parliamentary elections, two local council elections, and two political party elections (APD, 2016; 2021). However, these elections experienced challenges such as an extension of terms and unprocedural delays (APD, 2014). The upcoming presidential elections and the registration of political parties are already facing similar challenges.

The aftermath of Somaliland’s reassertion of independence in 1991, saw an increase in urbanization, especially in Hargeisa as well as the rapid expansion of markets. Despite the increase in the number and sizes of markets, Waaheen remained a vital market not only for Hargeisa residents and traders, but also for people from throughout the Somali region, including Djibouti, Somalia, and the Somali region of Ethiopia.

Somaliland's government inked a 30-year concession agreement with Dubai-based port operator DP World in 2016. The port and the Berbera corridor are being modernized as part of this project. It is Somaliland's largest foreign direct investment initiative since 1991. Initially, the literature on the corridor was driven by four objectives: a) Ethiopia's alternative sea access, b) Djibouti's corridor congestion, c) Djibouti's unilateral termination of the concession agreement with DP World, and d) Somaliland's vision for sustainable economic growth and development.

In 2020/2021, Somalia's Federal elections were supposed to take place in Muqdisho ending four years of Farmaajo's leadership, however, at the time of writing this report, the federal selection-based elections have been delayed due to political disagreements among the key political players.

This discussion paper is intended to capture Somaliland’s journey to end violence, reach a durable political settlement through an elite-negotiated process, form a new legitimate and democratic government, and facilitate a free market economy. The paper presents Somaliland's unique approach to peace and state-building- locally-driven, culturally-rooted, reconciliation-focused, and traditionally-engineered processes whereby all key stakeholders were engaged to reach a new political settlement agreed by dominant players. In this regard, the paper argues that the state formation of Somaliland was built on existing traditional informal institutions thus creating a neopatrimonialism political culture. The paper further explains that Somaliland’s success factors for its peace and state-building process are now its major constraints to inclusive economic growth and development. Clientelism and patronage have dominated the political culture forming a small elite circle whose interests threaten the very basic principles of free-market economy.

Somaliland communities have traditional system of governance, in which customary law and the clan system from which it derived provided the model for conflict resolution and a hybrid political order in general. This system of governance has gained prominence and space after the collapse of the formal institutions of then Somali Republic. After Somaliland proclaimed its independence from the rest of Somalia in 18 May, 1991; it was envisaged that the empowerment of the traditional governance systems as the only immediate way out of the multiple threats to public safety. Empowering traditional governance processes, elders in the of the clans of the Northern regions(former Somaliland British Protectorate) started their peace-building process, in which a reconciliation process in Somaliland assumed the form of a consensus-based structure, strategy, process, and leadership that allowed communities to settle their differences through inclusive clan meetings. That arrangement later morphed into rebuilding formal security institutions and creation of the basic infrastructure of hybrid security governance system as a part of a state and nation-building initiative. The research reveals how locally-owned peace-building processes preceded state-building initiatives that yielded a unique type of hybrid security sector governance. It also sheds a light on how the formal and non-formal security institutions interact and interface and how they function and cooperate in both urban and the rural context. It also provides an original analysis on the comparisons with Puntland,a region adjacent to Somaliland.

Somaliland’s electoral history is rather unique in a troubled part of the world where democratic norms and values are not respected. The combined elections at the end of May 2021 are crucial for the country’s political stability and democratic credentials