About Us
Horn of Africa Institute for Statecraft (HAISC) is a non-partisan, independent Think Tank based in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Our Mission
A region in which its populace and institutions have the necessary knowhow to understand Statecraft.
Our Vision
To create a critical mass of knowledgeable citizenry to work in and contribute effectively to their government’s conduct of international affairs.
What We Do
The Institute undertakes three major functions; professional courses training, research and translation.
Professional Courses. Our training component is divided into two areas; Online students and Bespoke courses.
Professional Online Courses: HAIS conducts a three-month course on four major areas. These are International Relations / International Security, Diplomacy, Intelligence and Strategy and Conflict Analysis. For more on each course , see our courses section.
Bespoke Courses: We train organizations within the East African Region on governance and Statecraft. Training components, structure and duration is done in consultation with the client.
Research We do cutting age research in the following areas;
- Insurgency/counterinsurgency in Somalia.
- Foreign Relations in the Horn of Africa.
- The Federal System of governance in Somalia and Ethiopia.
- The constitutional making process in Somalia.
- Resource based conflicts in the Horn of Africa.
- Climate change in the Horn of Africa.
- Devolved systems in Kenya.
Translation Service: Our staff specialize in English, Somali and Swahili and Arabic.
Our Work. Why Statecraft
The Horn of Africa has tremendous resources to transform the region . But some countries within the region have been affected by intra state and inter state conflict . Ethiopia and Somalia went to war in 1960 and 1977 with disastrous effects.
With lesser disputes and more cooperation, the regions resources can be tapped for the benefit of its populace.
Unfortunately, many learning organizations have concentrated on other areas of governance. Little attention has been given to the conduct of a country’s affairs at the international level. HAISC fills this void by conducting easily accessible and online training in the area of international affairs in a language understandable by the public.
The world is fast changing. The fall of the Berlin Wall is said to have led to the end of the Cold War. Paradoxically, some pundits argue that, we are currently at the brink of another World War three which may lead to the destruction of humanity as we know it
A car took the wrong turn, then the first World War begun
On 28 June 1914 , Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) who was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife were being driven by Leopold Lojka in the city of Sarajevo. The driver was unfamiliar with the city and took a wrong turn and unfortunately stoppped where Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb stood. Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife dead. The result was the World War 1. Coincidentally, it was in 1888, when Otto von Bismarck remarked “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.”
Locally, responding to calls by the newly selected Somalia Parliamentarians and buoyed by the United States support, the Ethiopian government sent its forces to Somalia in 2005. The result was a united Somali populace to fight off the Ethiopian military. By the time they withdrew in 2009, an insurgency named Al-Shabaab had grown in leaps and bounds and is the single biggest threat to Somalia’s statehood till today.
So, wars can begin in many ways. That is why there is need to study Statecraft and examine various ways in which States relate to each other and why.
Why Are We Different
The tutors are highly qualified in their respective fields who have carried out research in those areas with the Horn of Africa as their main area of study. The literature provided at HAIS is one that covers the International political arena but with the Horn of Africa in mind. The tutors are available to meet our online students face to face as the need arises.
Many Online courses on the four areas of study carry out simulations. But simulations at HAIS are region specific and thus empowers the student with issues he/she can identify with. This enables the learner to put what he or she has learnt into practice when the need arises.
Our online courses have an extensive question test bank questions which captures the regions areas of Statecraft and governance but only available to subscribed learners. The HAIS system automatically grades the learner.
Translation Service: Our staff specialize in English, Somali and Swahili and Arabic.