Podcast Summary: Ask Haviv Anything – Episode 74

Title: Why the global outrage at Israel's Somaliland recognition?
Host: Haviv Rettig Gur
Date: December 31, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Haviv Rettig Gur examines Israel's decision to recognize Somaliland as an independent state and the intense international backlash that followed. Haviv delves into the political realities of Somaliland’s statehood, the historical context of its separation from Somalia, and the reasons for global resistance—especially from Western countries and African organizations. He uses Somaliland's story to challenge prevailing dogmas about statehood, legitimacy, and the international community’s selective engagement in Africa.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Israel’s Strategic Recognition of Somaliland

• Opening Context

  • [00:05] Four days prior to recording, Israel officially recognizes Somaliland.
  • [00:13] The move is described as “strategic,” largely due to Somaliland’s position near the Bab El Mandeb straits—vital for countering threats from the Houthis in Yemen.

• Metacommentary on Response

  • Haviv expresses surprise at the “mass across the board rejection” by the UK, African Union, and others.
  • He suggests that this reaction lays bare the international community’s “hypocrisy” and reveals its failure to understand regional complexities.
  • Quote:

    "The core is the hypocrisy. The west is very bad at looking at the Third World. It's very bad at looking at Africa. And the entire response to Somaliland really drives that point home." – Haviv [00:44]

2. Understanding Somaliland: De Facto Statehood

• [01:36] Somaliland is described as a “de facto independent state” in the Horn of Africa, functioning separately from Somalia since 1991.

• Differentiation from ‘Failed States’

  • Somaliland has:
    • Its own government, parliament, courts, army, and currency (the Somaliland shilling)
    • Held repeated, open elections with real campaigns and opposition parties
    • A monopoly on legitimate violence, stable currency, and meaningful elite coordination

• Contrast with Somalia

  • Despite sharing ethnicity, religion (Sunni Muslim), and socioeconomic realities (pastoralism, poverty, clan structure) with Somalia, Somaliland remains far more stable.

  • Quote:

    "Why is Somalia a failed state if Somaliland can be successful without even international recognition or access to global financial exchanges?" – Haviv [03:14]

  • Somaliland's stability is presented as evidence against cultural or civilizational determinism.

3. Historical Roots: British and Italian Somaliland

• [04:53] Somaliland and Somalia were distinct colonial territories—British and Italian, respectively.
  • They voluntarily united in 1960, but this union soon became detrimental for northern Somaliland.
  • The centralization of power in Mogadishu led to the north’s systematic marginalization, violence, and brutality—culminating in tens of thousands killed during the 1980s.
• Collapse of the Union
  • [05:52] As Somalia’s state collapsed in 1991, Somaliland’s only real option was to go its own way.

4. Somaliland’s Unique Path to Stability

• Process of State-Building

  • Stability emerged from clan conferences and power-sharing arrangements, integrating customary law (“old customary law [...] was integrated into the formal institutions” [06:44]).
  • The process was slow, messy, not Western-led, but resulted in relatively free and stable governance, including “peaceful transfers of power and real opposition parties.”

• No Dependence on International Aid or Peacekeepers

  • Somaliland achieved stability and monetary management largely without external assistance.
  • Quote:

    “It did it all… without international recognition, without ever becoming dependent on aid, because it didn’t have access largely to aid, without peacekeepers. This should make us uncomfortable because it breaks a lot of the dogmas of the development industry.” – Haviv [07:19]

5. International Hypocrisy & Underlying Motivations of Non-Recognition

• Geostrategic Interests & Western Inconsistency

  • [08:15] With the Bab El Mandeb Strait in chaos due to Houthi actions, stable Somaliland is in the direct interests of European and global trade.
  • Haviv questions why European countries will not recognize Somaliland despite the obvious benefits.
  • Quote:

    “Why would you turn that down? Why isn’t it being recognized by every European country that doesn’t want shipping from China to be hindered at the drop of a hat whenever the Houthis decide?” – Haviv [08:15]

• Civilizational Excuses Challenged

  • The refusal to recognize Somaliland perpetuates lazy narratives that blame African dysfunction on immutable factors, rather than failed political institutions or elite choices.
  • Somaliland disproves the notion that “Somalis are incapable of stable governance for some cultural, religious, spiritual, ethnic reason.”
  • Quote:

    “The variable isn’t culture in the broad sense. The variable is culture in the political sense. Institutions, incentives, elite behavior, expectations of polities and populations. That’s replicable, that’s learnable.” – Haviv [10:32]

6. Recognition and the Message It Sends

• Reality Versus Fiction

  • Recognizing Somaliland would signal that “reality matters more than diplomatic ritual, that governance matters more than slogans, and that civilizational determinism ... is lazy thinking.”
  • Not recognizing Somaliland is portrayed as taking a stand against the will and experience of the vast majority of its population.
  • Quote:

    “If you don’t recognize Somaliland, you’re standing against the desires and will and history and experience of the vast majority of Somalilanders. You really want to do that?” – Haviv [11:45]

• Israel’s Position

  • Haviv expresses pride in Israel’s pragmatic approach to international realities by recognizing Somaliland.
  • Closing personal note:

    “Somalilanders, we are nothing alike. You are Somali and Muslim and African and all kinds of other words that I don’t share in my own civilizational history, but I feel like we’re a little bit alike. You made it work. I’m proud that at least my country recognizes that.” – Haviv [12:20]

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• [00:44]: “The core is the hypocrisy. The west is very bad at looking at the Third World.”
• [03:14]: “Why is Somalia a failed state if Somaliland can be successful without even international recognition or access to global financial exchanges?”
• [07:19]: “It did it all… without international recognition, without ever becoming dependent on aid…”
• [08:15]: “Why would you turn that down?... whenever the Houthis decide?”
• [10:32]: “The variable isn’t culture in the broad sense. The variable is culture in the political sense. Institutions, incentives, elite behavior, expectations of polities and populations.”
• [11:45]: “If you don’t recognize Somaliland, you’re standing against the desires and will and history and experience of the vast majority of Somalilanders. You really want to do that?”
• [12:20]: Closing: “Somalilanders, we are nothing alike... You made it work. I’m proud that at least my country recognizes that.”

Timestamps for Core Segments

• [00:05] – Introduction: Israel’s recognition of Somaliland
• [01:36] – Somaliland’s status and political development
• [04:53] – Historical roots and collapse of the Somali union
• [06:17] – Somaliland’s functional statehood and distinct achievements
• [07:19] – Aid, development, and the breaking of dogmas
• [08:15] – Strategic value and Western hypocrisy
• [10:32] – The myth of civilizational determinism
• [11:45] – Legitimacy, recognition, and concluding reflections

Tone & Style

Haviv’s tone throughout is direct, thoughtful, and critical—especially of Western diplomatic habits and developmental orthodoxies. He balances analytical depth with a conversational style, making complex historical and political realities accessible without oversimplifying them.

Summary

This episode is an incisive look at a rarely discussed success story in the Horn of Africa and a searing critique of the international community’s approach to legitimacy and statehood. Haviv Rettig Gur challenges listeners to question the prevailing narratives about Africa and the geopolitics of recognition, arguing that Somaliland’s example should force a reckoning with both historical realities and present-day responsibilities.