Several scholars have noted that even though Xeer may be centuries old, it has the potential to serve as the legal system of a modern, well-functioning economy.
This makes no sense, given the remainder of the article, as a modern, well-functioning economy (of which Somalia certainly does not have one) requires diversity. Xeer relies heavily on ingrained cultural norms, and is discriminatory against minorities and women. Lack of impartiality is also a question, given that you are assigned a judge at birth.
It might work well in Somalia, but I can't see what is described as being translatable elsewhere. There are some elements that aren't Xeer-specific (like reducing focus on punitive measures), but as a whole, I can't see it working somewhere else that doesn't have the same social structure.
I agree that the article makes no sense, but I think that modern society "requires diversity" might be some kind of party line in the West and might be no fully true. An example of successful society that is not highly "diverse" is China. (Well China certainly is and was diverse, but not as much as current Western societies).
I would suggest you do a bit more research on the roots of the civil war. You could start with the Wikipedia page on Siad Barre, the dictator who was ousted:
Illuminating quotes, "the government forbade clanism and stressed loyalty to the central authorities", "Barre also sought to eradicate the importance of clan (qabil) affiliation within government and civil society".
I can advocate Xeer as a functional model of non-state governance in exactly the same way that parliamentary democracy did not become defunct after the Revolutionary War and that liberal democracy did not sing its swan song after the overthrow of the Shah or during the Lebanese civil war.
I see Xeer as a call for tribalism, regionalism, and traditionalism in a country that was destroyed by these same factors! I fail to see how Xeer is divorced from these ideas.
This makes no sense, given the remainder of the article, as a modern, well-functioning economy (of which Somalia certainly does not have one) requires diversity. Xeer relies heavily on ingrained cultural norms, and is discriminatory against minorities and women. Lack of impartiality is also a question, given that you are assigned a judge at birth.
It might work well in Somalia, but I can't see what is described as being translatable elsewhere. There are some elements that aren't Xeer-specific (like reducing focus on punitive measures), but as a whole, I can't see it working somewhere else that doesn't have the same social structure.