August 2023

Transforming Justice sector in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations (FCAS) is often complicated, especially when the focus is normative or behavioural change and transformation. This, however, does not stop successive Somali governments and international community repeatedly developing ambitious policies, programs and models that raise the question of why failure is so common, and why is Somalia’s justice sector is still not fully functional. These questions are further explored in this paper, using a paradigmatic case study-in this instance, the recently agreed Justice and Corrections Model (JCM). The Model is to be understood within the context of Somalia’s complex legal pluralism and political entrepreneurship where divergent actors operate in dynamic arena of projectized and individualized interests rather than coherent, institutionalized sector.