On the governance of “not being governed”

The Art of Not Being Governed illustrates that the people of highland South East Asia were not primitive people “left behind” but instead chose their lifestyles in order to avoid the predation of lowland states. This raises the question of how these people who are ungoverned by nation states provide governance for themselves. We explore this question with two related case studies. One examines a nineteenth century Southern Indian banking caste that provided self-governance. The other examines modern-day stateless Somalia.