Clans, Tribes and Social Hierarchies in the Broader Gulf of Aden Region

Abstract

‘Tribalism’ and ‘clanism’ remain poorly understood and poorly defined terms in the study of international development. They tend to be conflated and associated with hierarchical patronage networks that help to entrench conflict and to undermine positive progress towards achieving modernising development agendas. However, in the Gulf of Aden region, they have also been instrumental in maintaining social order across a number of contexts. In Yemen and Somalia, they actually play both a stabilising and a destabilising role.

Taking these considerations into account, this chapter helps to update and realign existing definitions of clans and tribes within the specific context of Yemen and Somalia. It argues that two separate terms are needed to distinguish Yemeni ‘tribalism’ from Somali ‘clanism’, so as to better acknowledge the uniqueness of each phenomenon within its own particular cultural setting.