President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Need for Permanency.

Somalia became an independent state on July 1, 1960, when the former British protectorate of Somaliland and the former Italian-administered UN trust territory of Somalia merged. The new country was led by a civilian government, the Somali National Assembly, headed by Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf. In 1969, Mohamed Siad Barre led a coup and renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic. After a brief Calm in 1991, a civil war divided the country into clan-based sects. In 1992, a severe famine broke out in the country, giving rise to a bitter feud between rival clans, which led to an entire fledged war and famine in southern Somalia. As a result, Somaliland, a part of Northern Somalia, declared independence, but the country has not yet achieved open international recognition. 

Somaliland's declaration of independence from Somalia in 1991 commenced the semi-autonomous nation's subsequent struggle to gain recognition as a sovereign state from the international community. The fight for independence from mainland Somalia, which started during the civil war, persisted over two decades, trying to recapture the country's democratic gains before the unification that reinforced the distinction between it and greater Somalia. Over the past decade, Somaliland's political groups and civil organizations continued to work with local stakeholders to incorporate democratic principles into a culture characterized by an intricate and deeply rooted clan system. Unlike the disunited Somalia, Somaliland's democratic work of civil and political organizations has grown increasingly dynamic as the country's political space has improved.

Today, through its hard work, Somaliland has demonstrated to other Africans that you don't have to be rich to be democratic. Despite a tiny national budget, challenging geography, and hostile climate, Somaliland has shown the way for other Africans to follow the peaceful coexistence of people to form a stable statehood. Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo has described Somaliland's progress in 2019 as 'a place that has made something out of virtually nothing.'

Now, let us turn the page to the main subject of our topic. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the current president of Somalia, was born in Jalalaqsi in the central region of Hiiraan; father is from the Abgaal clan, and mother from the Hawadle clan. Hassan attended primary and secondary schools in his hometown, Jalalaqsi. He later moved to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in 1978 and studied at the local Somali National University for three years. In 1981, he earned an undergraduate diploma in technology. Following his second term election for the presidency of Somalia, the University for Peace revealed that Hassan is a Ph.D. candidate. In October 2022, the presidency announced that Hassan defended his doctoral dissertation in Peace and governance Development, the first sitting Somali president to do so. Following his second term election for the presidency of Somalia, the University for Peace revealed that Hassan is a Ph.D. candidate. In October 2022, the presidency announced that Hassan was the first sitting Somali president to defend his doctoral dissertation in Peace, Governance, and Development.

The Somalian president had an abundance of both national and international leadership experience. Hassan accepted an instructor and trainer position at the Lafole Technical Secondary School. He joined the Somali National University-affiliated Technical Teachers' Training College 1984 and became the department's head in 1986. When the civil war broke out in the early 1990s, Hassan remained in Somalia. He consulted with various NGOs, UN bureaus, and peace and development projects. Hassan worked as an education officer for UNICEF in the central and southern parts of the country from 1993 to 1995. In 1999, he co-established the Somali Institute of Management and Administration (SIMAD) in the capital. The institution subsequently grew into the SIMAD University, with Hassan acting as dean until 2010.

Hassan joined Somali politics in 2011 and founded the independent Peace and Development Party (PDP). His leadership qualities were immediately recognized, as he was unanimously elected as the party's chairman in April 2011, with a mandate to lead for the next three years. August 2012 saw Hassan's political career take another turn when he was chosen as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the newly formed Federal Parliament of Somalia. His success was not limited to academia and civic work; he also proved himself a capable entrepreneur.

However, despite all the extraordinary education and experience, President Hassan did not find a national role in uniting the clan-dependent tradition into regional or statehood ideology like Somaliland in his two separate terms. Although the president sometimes uses Somali cultural and language relationships and Islamism in his famous speeches, those markers are applied by many as points of provocation to incite violence. The Somalis regard the mention of cultural and language relationships as a way to coil into their clan bond more deeply due to the repeated feeling of betrayal by the central government. Islamism is also more deeply related to the practice of the network of  Al-Shebab, looked at by the local people with suspicion. Also, it is worth mentioning that Al-Shebab is the only locally based solid ideology sticking to Islamism based - as it is - on the notion of militant fundamentalism. One of the challenges facing Hassan's government remains to find an all-embracing ideology that will provide original solutions to Somalia's myriad acute problems and guide the clan-based government structure toward peaceful coexistence of people within its current boundaries. The success of such a collective coming together will attract most people to the center and lead them to progress with the objective of integration based on thrust.

Social scientists hint that in the 21st Century, nationality and statehood are becoming increasingly complex due to globalization, transnational movements, and the rise of diverse identities within single states. This has led to challenges to the traditional idea of a unified nation-state, with some arguing that the nation-state's power is diminishing as other actors gain influence on the global stage. The social scientists further hinted at the erosion of the nation-state traditional idea, where a single national identity aligns with a state's borders, which is being challenged by diverse populations within countries, leading to increased ethnic and cultural complexities. 

One good piece of advice for the president of Somalia and others in the same position is to get the counsel of social scientists and search for a progressive way to form the future policy of their respective nations aligned with the progressive needs and conditions of the people. The purpose and objective of future statehood should focus on the well-being and permanency of citizens within the current border that reduces and eliminates the hardship of citizens. Statehood is not owned or arranged by kings and queens. One good example is living the life of an enslaved person in Britain and being a citizen of Somalia or Somaliland, which makes the concept denuded and obsolete. Thus, as we end the 21st Century, for Generation Z, the compatible decisive factors determining citizenship and national boundaries will be the lifestyle and comfort afforded to everyone by the elected government in power of the territory. In a nation that has advanced to a fully mature democracy, citizens can elect their leaders. Also, at the end of the 21st Century, when freedom of movement liberalizes, citizens can migrate to the choice of their territories and claim citizenship. Thus, be reminded that the old versions of nationalism and ethnicism are at their last breath of existence. With that in mind, government leaders should be open to entertaining the future of the survival of their people in the coming competitive global economy and shape the orientation of their education to form the mindset of Generation Z.