Recently the International Republican Institute (IRI) commissioned an opinion survey (pdf link here) in Somaliland, in which 600 participants in the Hargeisa district were asked a number of questions designed to elicit thoughts on the current administration and the extent to which theywere engaged with the political process. Designed to gauge the state of civil society in Somaliland, the findings contained in the study contain valuable data, a rare one at that, considering this might be the first of its kind in Somaliland. While the findings might suggest that civic engagement or civil society as perceived through the lens of the Western conception of civil society is not wide spread (that is, one premised on the notion of ‘individualism’ and secular institutions), the findings suggest that traditional aspects of civil society (religious scholars and institutions) enjoy a high degree of legitimacy and engagement from citizens whichare rooted in social solidarity and notion of a community united by a common religion.
