Toward Building Somalia’s Social Contract
State building and state legitimacy in the states emerging from fragility are inseparable from the notion of social contract. In the countries where the youth only know statelessness—or a complete absence of state institutions—building a new social contract from the ground up becomes an even stronger imperative. What can citizens legitimately expect from the state Should the state provide only the basics—security and observance of social order—or should it also be involved in the provision of broader public goods and services, such as infrastructure, clean water, public health, and education These questions are inextricably linked to the questions of what is affordable. Most fragile states, given the destruction of state institutions and processes, suffer from very low tax capacity and hence feeble revenue collection and rely disproportionately on often unpredictable donor funds. Yet the ability of the state to collect revenue is also linked to the fiscal bargain side of the social contract. For citizens, paying taxes hinges on the trust that public funds will be translated into key public goods and services. Higher trust means higher willingness to pay taxes. Social contract is a dynamic agreement between the state and society, delineating mutual roles and responsibilities that are continuously renegotiated based on changing capacities and expectations. It is also understood as an implicit agreement where the state provides security and public goods in exchange for citizens’ compliance and support. This concept serves as a framework for understanding how states gain legitimacy, maintain social order, and deliver public goods such as justice, security, and development—supporting an understanding of the local context and the need for tailored approaches to strengthen the social contract in different contexts. While this volume examines the dynamics of building Somalia’s social contract, it does not delve into the nature of the bargaining interfaces but rather explores the outcomes of the social contract, including the state’s capacity for revenue mobilization and service delivery through its multiple administrative units. Importantly, it provides information on how the alignment of expectations between the state and society and outcomes has evolved over the past few years.
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| Format: | Report biblioteca |
| Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC: World Bank
2024-12-06
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| Subjects: | SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES, SDG 11, PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS, SDG 16, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099111424062026744/P1719741f0d3390fc1bb9515d17a216325d https://hdl.handle.net/10986/42506 |
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