Somali Reconstruction and Local Initiative: Amoud University". World Development 29(4): 641–656

unique in the continent as the nation and the state nearly overlapped. The population shared many social and cultural traits, such as lan-guage, modes of economic production, and religion. Given its social and cultural base, the state was thought to be viable. Just over a decade ago, it would have been impossible to imagine the disintegration of the Somali state. Today, many political commentators are similarly stri-dent about the clan structure being essential to the very essence of a Somali community. They argue that it is not possible to reconstruct Somalia without the clan being the basis of the new polity. These essentialist arguments are grounded in a limited understand-ing of Somali political history. They also lack an appreciation of the art of state formation. The “shared social and cultural heritage ” thesis fails to recognize that common traits can form a necessary, but insufficient foundation for building state institutions that cater to the community’s collective interest. The ability of cultural resources to bind a societ