[Good Government, Bad Government] Somalis Who Say Anarchy Is Preferable

Somalia is known to us as a country of pirates. This country has no government. Somalia’s current condition is one in which there is no police, no military, and no tax office of the kind we know. Yet the Somali people do not seem particularly eager to establish a government.

Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since 1991. When Siad Barre, the dictator who had ruled the country until then, was ousted from power, various factions began fighting one another to seize control, which eventually led to civil war. The United States and the UN intervened and tried to form a new government, but in the end they failed and withdrew. After that, the civil war subsided, and a certain degree of peace took hold.

Once peace arrived, economic activity began. Although anarchy has the drawback of insecurity, it also has the advantages of no regulation and no taxes. Moreover, anarchy is a condition without government, not a condition without order. Somalia’s reality clearly shows that a certain degree of order can exist even without a government.

Research by the American economist Jim Powell shows that the lives of Somali people actually improved under anarchy. Powell’s research team compared 40 African countries using 13 indicators, including life expectancy, vaccination rates, disease rates, access to communications, and access to clean water, and Somalia ranked in the middle among African countries. This result was better than under the rule of the dictator Barre. In particular, it showed remarkable improvement in mortality rates, life expectancy, and access to communications.

After visiting the country, journalist Kevin Sites once said that Somalia was a free-market ideal. Before the government collapsed in 1991, postal delivery and telephone service had been government-guaranteed monopolies, but after the country fell into anarchy those monopoly rights naturally disappeared. As a result, intensely competitive markets emerged in both postal and telephone services, and Somalis were able to enjoy the cheapest communications services in Africa. Having seen such examples, the British weekly The Economist even said, “Government can be an obstacle rather than a help to the people.”

Most governments make significant contributions to the lives of their people. However, an anarchic Somalia testifies to us that not every activity of government is helpful to the people.

Original title: [좋은 정부, 나쁜 정부] 차라리 무정부 상태가 낫다는 소말리아 사람들

Author: Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

Date: 2008-12-22

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=17&idx=10725