Political Settlement in Somaliland: a gendered perspective

Research suggests that inclusive political settlements tend to be more stable. For Somaliland in the northern Horn of Africa, stability is underpinned by a patriarchal clan-based system that is non-gender-inclusive. The question therefore arises as to how the transition to greater inclusivity might be achieved without destabilising Somaliland’s political settlement in the process. The most recent 2012 Gender Inequality Index for Somalia rates the whole of the old Somali Republic at 0.776 (1 indicating maximum gender inequality), the fourth-lowest position in the index (UNDP Gender Unit, 2012). In practice, this means that the Somali territories are characterised by high levels of maternal mortality, gender-based violence, illiteracy, child marriage, rape, female genital mutilation and inadequate health services for women and girls. While this data does not relate to Somaliland alone, it provides a likely indication of the severity of the imbalance between women and men in the country. The data that is available for Somaliland shows similar gender disparities. Girls are less likely to be enrolled in primary school, for example, with 95,578 recorded in Somaliland in 2012/13 against an enrolment of 119,453 for boys. That disparity increases significantly at secondary level, with 12,306 female enrolments in the same year against 26,932 for males (MoLSA, 2014). Despite the pains of transition, there is good reason to consider a more inclusive political settlement as a means of reinvigorating the Somaliland polity. Our research and other evidence in the secondary literature show that people in Somaliland are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the ‘politicisation’ of clan and the rise of ‘clannism’. These developments in the political settlement are themselves potentially destabilising, but this time of change offers room for gender-focused activism that uses greater inclusivity for women and men (as well as minority groups) to help promote peaceful transition in Somaliland. In this report, we argue not only that the Somaliland political settlement is currently relatively stable but non-inclusive in gender terms, but that there are compelling reasons on both normative and instrumental grounds to urgently improve this situation. We present the results of a 21-month research project, including new primary data about attitudes towards improving women’s political participation and reducing gender-based violence. We conclude the report with a number of suggested initiatives, the contours of which are worth emphasising from the start. Firstly, it is important that international involvement is not seen to dominate gender initiatives to the degree that these interventions add to the growing perception that ‘women’s issues’ are a concern of liberal foreigners and are therefore ‘un-Somali’. Secondly, it is important that donor programmes seeking to address the gender-inclusivity of Somaliland’s political settlement take a long-term view, and are grounded in principles supported within Islamic ethical structures. The Somaliland government and political parties also have a significant role to play in opening spaces for both men and women to participate actively in political activities at all levels. Thirdly, therefore, we recommend a return to closed lists in elections, and a focus on finding ways to deliver on the constitutional guarantee of equal rights for all citizens. While it has supported Somaliland’s peace effectively in many ways, clan-based justice is manifestly unjust in many cases of sexual violence. Fourthly, we therefore suggest that it is important that mechanisms be found to draw customary elders into a legal system that provides more effectively for the victims in such cases. Somaliland’s success in establishing a viable political settlement in the face of considerable odds is impressive, but the transition from customary structures to those of representative nation-state politics exposes gender imbalances that could threaten to undermine that success. The research outlined in this report supports efforts to engender an inclusive and robust political settlement for the future

Micro-fabrication of Carbon Structures by Pattern Miniaturization in Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Gel

A simple and novel method to fabricate and miniaturize surface and sub-surface micro-structures and micro-patterns in glassy carbon is proposed and demonstrated. An aqueous resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) sol is employed for micro-molding of the master-pattern to be replicated, followed by controlled drying and pyrolysis of the gel to reproduce an isotropically shrunk replica in carbon. The miniaturized version of the master-pattern thus replicated in carbon is about one order of magnitude smaller than original master by repeating three times the above cycle of molding and drying. The micro-fabrication method proposed will greatly enhance the toolbox for a facile fabrication of a variety of Carbon-MEMS and C-microfluidic devices.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Design and Culture in the Making of Happiness

Design responds to the needs of individuals, being happiness and wellbeing the subject of an increasing number of studies, which gave rise to a new discipline, Positive Psychology. From these new approaches and concerns related to subjective well-being comes Positive Design, whose objective is to promote the well-being of individuals and communities in connection with a culture of innovation. The cultural routes made accessible through wayfinding systems, make it possible to put Heritage in dialogue, emphasize the culture, memory and history of communities, providing citizens with meaningful experiences that will have an impact both in the short and long run, thus becoming agents for the happiness of individuals. This article discusses the concept of Positive Design based on Positive Psychology, analyzes the evolution and importance of Heritage in the Culture of peoples and communities, questioning how the Wayfinding Systems developed for cultural promotion can integrate the practice of Positive Design and how this contributes to the subjective well-being of individuals

Sigma-phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V alloy systems and its physical properties

A review is presented on physical properties of the sigma-phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V alloy systems as revealed both with experimental -- mostly with the Mossbauer spectroscopy -- and theoretical methods. In particular, the following questions relevant to the issue have been addressed: identification of sigma and determination of its structural properties, kinetics of alpha-to-sigma and sigma-to-alpha phase transformations, Debye temperature and Fe-partial phonon density of states, Curie temperature and magnetization, hyperfine fields, isomer shifts and electric field gradients.Comment: 26 pages, 23 figures and 83 reference

Discovering Spatio-Temporal Patterns in Precision Agriculture Based on Triclustering

Agriculture has undergone some very important changes over the last few decades. The emergence and evolution of precision agri culture has allowed to move from the uniform site management to the site-specific management, with both economic and environmental advan tages. However, to be implemented effectively, site-specific management requires within-field spatial variability to be well-known and character ized. In this paper, an algorithm that delineates within-field management zones in a maize plantation is introduced. The algorithm, based on tri clustering, mines clusters from temporal remote sensing data. Data from maize crops in Alentejo, Portugal, have been used to assess the suit ability of applying triclustering to discover patterns over time, that may eventually help farmers to improve their harvests.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2017-88209-C2Fundaçao para a Ciéncia e a Tecnologia (FCT) UIDB/04561/202

Self‐pollination in island and mainland populations of the introduced hummingbird‐pollinated plant, Nicotiana glauca (Solanaceae)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142032/1/ajb20672.pd