Home › Most Popular Content

Most Popular Content

Most Popular Articles

  1. The L-Word in Afghanistan
  2. The Clash of Civilizations?
  3. What to Read on Turkish Politics
  4. In the Quicksands of Somalia
  5. Is Turkey Leaving the West?
  6. Where the Wild Things Were
  7. Free Markets, Free Muslims
  8. The Dollar and the Deficits
  9. The Nukes We Need
  10. An Agenda for NATO


Most Popularly E-mailed Articles

  1. The L-Word in Afghanistan
  2. What to Read on Turkish Politics
  3. What to Read on Fighting Insurgencies
  4. In the Quicksands of Somalia
  5. Is Turkey Leaving the West?
  6. Always Salute, Never Resign
  7. Securing the Information Highway
  8. Ensuring Energy Security
  9. Somalia and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention
  10. Changing North Korea


Most Popular Capsule Review Articles

  1. The Leasing of Guantanamo Bay
  2. Russian Foreign Policy: The Return of Great Power Politics
  3. The Euro: The Politics of the New Global Currency
  4. Iraq: A Political History From Independence to Occupation
  5. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2nd ed
  6. Haiti in the Balance: Why Foreign Aid Has Failed and What We Can Do About It
  7. Falling Behind: Explaining the Development Gap Between Latin America and the United States
  8. World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy
  9. The Mossadegh Era: Roots of the Iranian Revolution
  10. When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order


Most Popular Collection Articles

  1. From the Archives: 1989
  2. The Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index 2005
  3. Public Agenda Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index 2006
  4. In Memoriam: Samuel P. Huntington
  5. The End of an Era
  6. In Memoriam: George Frost Kennan
  7. China from the Inside Out
  8. The Rise of India
  9. Campaign 2008
  10. The Next Pandemic?


Most Popular Comment Articles

  1. Losing Controls
  2. Securing the Information Highway
  3. After Guantánamo
  4. The Reluctant Imperialist: Terrorism, Failed States, and the Case for American Empire
  5. The Decline of America's Soft Power
  6. Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires
  7. Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?: The Myth of the Omnipresent Enemy
  8. Who Will Control the Internet?
  9. A Global Power Shift in the Making
  10. The Japan Fallacy


Most Popular Essay Articles

  1. The Clash of Civilizations?
  2. In the Quicksands of Somalia
  3. The Dollar and the Deficits
  4. The Nukes We Need
  5. An Agenda for NATO
  6. Turkey's Transformers
  7. Russia Reborn
  8. Renewing American Leadership
  9. The Rise of China and the Future of the West
  10. Copenhagen's Inconvenient Truth


Most Popular FA Book Articles

  1. The Clash of Civilizations? The Debate
  2. Understanding the War on Terror
  3. America and the World: Debating the New Shape of International Politics
  4. American Foreign Policy: Cases and Choices
  5. Globalization: Challenge and Opportunity
  6. The United States and the Persian Gulf
  7. Global Energy Challenges and Priorities
  8. Foreign Affairs Agenda: The New Shape of World Politics
  9. The Balkans and American Foreign Policy
  10. The United States and Africa


Most Popular Author Interview Articles

  1. Q&A With Derek Scissors on China's Economy
  2. Q&A With Edward Morse on Oil Politics
  3. Q&A With Kenneth Roth on Closing Guantánamo
  4. Q&A With Ian Bremmer on State Capitalism
  5. Q&A With Robert Kaplan on Geopolitics in the Indian Ocean
  6. Q&A With Andrew Natsios on Sudan
  7. Q&A With David Victor About Climate Change
  8. Q&A With Akbar Ganji on the Iranian Elections
  9. Q&A with Laurie Garrett


Most Popular Letter to the Editor Articles

  1. The Facts About the Slave Trade
  2. The Road to the Arctic
  3. Smallholders Unite
  4. Putin's Russia
  5. Immigration and Jobs
  6. Diagnosing USAID
  7. Crisis Prevention
  8. Dangers at Sea
  9. AN ACADEMIC DEBATE
  10. TROUBLE IN TIMOR


Most Popular Letter From Articles

  1. Letter From Tehran: Iran's New Hard-Liners
  2. Letter From Tokyo: New Regime, New Relationship?
  3. Letter From New Delhi: India’s Myopic Opposition
  4. Letter From Goma: An Implausible Savior
  5. Letter From London: One Market, Many Peoples
  6. Letter From Tbilisi: Georgia's Confidence Game
  7. Letter From Mardan: A War of Unintended Consequences
  8. Letter From Johannesburg: The ANC’s Party Crashers
  9. Letter From Tel Aviv: Netanyahu’s Iranian Dilemma


Most Popular Postscript Articles

  1. Where the Wild Things Were
  2. Always Salute, Never Resign
  3. Obama's War
  4. Taliban vs. Predator
  5. The Great Game Moves North
  6. Obama's Prisoners Dilemma
  7. Yes, Globalization Passed Its Peak
  8. China and The Collapse of Doha
  9. Star Wars Retreats?
  10. The Art of Afghan Alliance Building


Most Popular Reading List Articles

  1. What to Read on Turkish Politics
  2. What to Read on Nuclear Proliferation
  3. What to Read on Climate Change
  4. What to Read on Fighting Insurgencies
  5. What to Read on Communism
  6. What to Read on Transatlantic Relations
  7. What to Read on Modernization Theory
  8. What to Read on North Korean Politics
  9. What to Read on China's Economy
  10. What to Read on Religion and Foreign Policy


Most Popular Response Articles

  1. Is Ethnic Conflict Inevitable?
  2. If Not Civilizations, What? Samuel Huntington Responds to His Critics
  3. The Case For Universal Jurisdiction
  4. The Future of U.S. Military Power
  5. Liberalism and Democracy: Can't Have One Without the Other
  6. Nuclear Exchange: Does Washington Really Have (or Want) Nuclear Primacy?
  7. Salute and Disobey?
  8. Comparing Crises
  9. Talking Turkey
  10. Tyranny and Terror


Most Popular Review Essay Articles

  1. Free Markets, Free Muslims
  2. The Suicide of the East?
  3. The Man Without a Plan
  4. Iraq and the Democratic Peace
  5. Hegemony or Empire?
  6. The Myth of Grass-Roots Terrorism
  7. Paving the Road to Hell: The Failure of U.N. Peacekeeping
  8. Illusions of Empire: Defining the New American Order
  9. A Tale of Two Wars
  10. The Unbalanced Triangle


Most Popular Roundtable Articles

  1. What's the Problem With Pakistan?
  2. How to Promote Global Health
  3. Are We Safe Yet?
  4. What to Do in Iraq: Responses and Discussion
  5. Iraq: What Now?
  6. Sam's Club


Most Popular Snapshot Articles

  1. The L-Word in Afghanistan
  2. Is Turkey Leaving the West?
  3. Know Thine Enemy
  4. How Dangerous Are the Taliban?
  5. Will the Chinese Communist Party Survive the Crisis?
  6. Our Man in Kabul
  7. Pyongbang!
  8. The Eclipse of the Americas
  9. Dollars Without Borders
  10. Lebanon’s Shadow Government
Cover image

In the Magazine

November/December 2009 / 6, 88
Essay
In the Quicksands of Somalia
Bronwyn Bruton

Washington's repeated attempts to bring peace to Somalia with state-building initiatives have failed, even backfired. It should renounce political intervention and encourage local development without trying to improve governance.
Read