Atlas / Organisations / Somaliland
Somaliland
1991– · Somaliland · Hybrid Democratic · Held state power · coding confidence low
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
An unrecognised state that built a working electoral democracy on a hybrid of party competition and clan elder councils.
Economic model
Livestock exports, remittances, port transit revenue, no access to international lending.
Organisation of powers
An upper house of clan elders alongside an elected lower house; the 2024 presidential election produced a transfer of power to the opposition.
Reading note
Recognised by no state, and rated more democratic than most that are. Coded at low confidence because comparative data is scarce.
Check a claim about Somaliland. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored +04
Coded +4: livestock exports and remittances with no access to international lending.
- Comparative datasetRemittances are estimated at around a quarter of GDP.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +07
Coded +7: sharia-influenced law within a clan social order.
- Documented act or statuteIslam is the state religion and personal status is governed accordingly.
AU · Organisation of power · scored −02
Coded −2 with low confidence: competitive elections and a transfer of power, in an unrecognised state.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2024 presidential election was won by the opposition and the incumbent conceded.
- Documented act or statuteAn upper house of clan elders sits alongside an elected lower house, and party registration is capped at three.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +02
Coded +2: a unitary state with clan representation built into the legislature.
- Documented act or statuteThe upper house is composed by clan rather than by election.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +05
Coded +5: clan structure is constitutive of representation.
- Documented act or statuteThe Guurti upper house is composed of clan elders rather than elected members.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −04
Coded −4: statehood built by negotiated clan conferences rather than by conquest.
- Documented act or statuteThe Borama conference of 1993 established the political settlement.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Post-War Liberia2.0
- Roman Republican Constitutionalism2.8
- Ennahda3.2
- Malawian Alternation3.3
- Post-War Sierra Leone3.5
- Zambian Alternation3.7
Countries
Cite this page
Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.