Ioan M. Lewis is undoubtedly the most renowned ethnographer of the Somali, particularly of their pastoral-nomadic branch. He began his pioneering work in the mid 1950s, when he published his first book Peoples of the Horn of Africa. Therein Lewis reviewed an impressive amount of literature by European and Arabic travellers and early ethnographers on three related groups: the Somali, the Afar, and the Saho. This formed the basis of his own initial field research in north-western Somalia (then British Somaliland) and, very briefly, in the Italian administered south in the late 1950s. After Somalia's independence in 1960, Lewis repeatedly visited the country. From near and far he accompanied Somalis in the Horn (and also in London) on their way through state-building, revolution, natural disasters, wars and civil wars, and, partly, reconstruction. Lewis' name became a trademark for anything connected to Somali society, culture, history and politics.

The book under review is the most recent of a long series of academic and popular texts on Somalis/Somalia over the last five decades. As could be expected from a master of the field, Understanding Somalia and Somaliland provides a formidable introduction to an, up until today, often poorly (or wrongly) understood people and their lot. Parts of the earlier chapters were originally published under the title ‘Understanding Somalia’. Nonetheless, the current volume has been extensively reworked and expanded.

The first chapter on the people and their traditions (pp. 1–26) outlines the most salient characteristics of a Somali society that is far more complex than the stereotype of the (northern) Somali pastoral nomad suggests. Lewis also responds to social and cultural variations and changes over time. The latter have frequently been driven by war, natural disasters, social reforms, extensive labour migration and flight.

Chapter two (pp. 27–70) provides a profound historical outline from the colonial partition to the escalation of civil war in Somalia in the late 1980s. The chapter, however, remains remarkably silent on the impacts of Italian and British colonialism in the Somali peninsula. While most major political events and developments between circa 1880 and 1960 (when British and Italian Somaliland gained independence) are touched upon, Lewis not once mentions the socio-political transformation throughout the imposition of colonial state structures upon a previously acephalous society. Yet, some other authors suggest that the relations of traditional authority that were previously characterised by a high degree of flexibility were gradually stabilised (or ‘frozen’) within the context of ‘indirect rule’ of both Italian and British administrations. This lack of consideration is even more astonishing, since on p. 34 Lewis himself criticises the UN (which was responsible for granting southern Somalia independence, as the territory was under Italian trusteeship on behalf of the UN after the Second World War) for not having seriously thought about establishing a European-style centralised state and corresponding administration in a highly decentralised social setting.

Chapter three, dealing with the collapse in southern Somalia (pp. 71–92), is well updated until 2007/8. It clearly outlines the path to Somalia's ruin paved by power-hungry leaders such as President Siyad Barre and the warlords Mahamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi, who skilfully manipulated followership based on patrilineal descent and instigated hatred between clans. External superpower involvement, however, is not discussed. Instead, Lewis accurately sketches the infamous UN intervention (1992–5) and names its mistakes, as well as those of a whole series of abortive externally backed ‘peace conferences’. In Lewis' perspective (shared by others, including the author of this review), it is largely the uninspired adherence to a ‘top-down’ approach to re-establishing a Somali central state that leads to continued failure and conflict. The most recent developments concerning the rise and fall of the Islamic Courts are outlined, yet without any reference to the group Al-Shabaab that has played a quite important role in the Islamist policies in southern Somalia since about 2005. This group was one of the main reasons why ‘the West’ and Ethiopia could argue that ‘terrorists’ and Taliban-like extremists had come to power in Mogadishu. This again was used as justification for Ethiopia's bloody military intervention in southern Somalia, backed by the USA. Moreover, Lewis' interpretation of the Islamic Courts as a largely clan-based movement (Habr Gedir wrapped in the flag of Islam, p. 86) is somewhat doubtful. Alternative analyses suggest a more complex mixture of motives and backgrounds involved on the side of the leaders and followers of the militant Islamic movements. A good number of die-hard Somali Islamists are not Hawiye/Habr Gedir but come from other clans/groups; some clearly have an international jihadist orientation; there is also substantial involvement of parts of the Somali diaspora in the ‘jihad’, particularly of those who replaced ‘clanism’ with strict adherence to Islam.

In contrast to the on-going fighting in southern Somalia, the way to relative peace and stability is shown in Chapter four (pp.93–108), which deals with Somaliland and Puntland. Somaliland in the north-west seceded from collapsing Somalia in 1991. Since then people there have managed to establish peace and political order from ‘bottom-up’, through local peace conferences and ‘national’ clan-conferences. At these a political framework was agreed upon that accommodated traditional Somali as well as modern state structures. Most remarkably, traditional authorities were installed in the upper house of parliament with the main responsibility for keeping peace in the country. Puntland in the north-east was founded in 1998. It is an autonomous regional administration, also based on consensus between local clans. In contrast to Somaliland, however, it provides less room for the involvement of traditional authorities on the level of government, and no room for political parties. This fosters autocratic tendencies among the leadership of Puntland. Despite a number of valuable details presented on Somaliland and Puntland, the quite serious political and military conflict between both political entities over the contested borderlands is ignored in Lewis' account. Since both Somaliland and Puntland are treated equally briefly in one chapter, one wonders why the title of the book is not ‘Understanding Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland’. Lewis' title has outraged some members of the Somali diaspora, particularly those who support Somali unity. The title can also be understood as a provocation of the international community that still ignores Somaliland and sticks to a rather unrealistic notion of Somalia.

To sum up: Understanding Somalia and Somaliland is a very readable and highly instructive introduction to Somali affairs. It can be recommended for those working in the area (e.g. UN and NGO staff), and can also serve as reading for policy makers interested in learning from past mistakes related to humanitarian intervention, top-down state-building and the ‘war against terrorism’. Finally, it repeats and buttresses one of Lewis' main arguments with regard to Somali politics: that it is mostly influenced by clan-belonging, based on patrilineal descent. Already some years ago, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this perspective provoked heated discussions. A number of Somali and non-Somali researchers, such as Abdi I. Samatar and Lidwien Kapteijns, have argued that the concept of clan/patrilineal descent has been transformed, and that the continuities which Lewis implicitly or explicitly draws from the pre-colonial time up until today are misleading. More than fifty years after his initial research, with his newest book, Lewis continues to challenge his academic opponents to come up with an equally readable and sound counter-analysis of the always dynamic and often astonishing Somali society and its affairs.