An Africanist Reading into Red Sea Geopolitics

In recent years, a lot has been written about the renewed interest of the Gulf States, Iran, Türkiye, China, and other non-African powers in the Red Sea region. Analysts agree that this interest has been driven by geopolitical, security, and economic considerations, and they have overwhelmingly argued that such competition among non-African powers has destabilizing effects in the African Red Sea littoral states and the wider Horn of Africa. These powers are seen to approach or interfere in the affairs of weaker African states and exacerbate political rivalries, violence, and armed conflict.

However, an Africanist reading into the Red Sea geopolitics reveals the importance of the agency of the Horn of Africa state and non-state actors in international affairs. Ancient and historical ties across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have shaped the cultural, social, political, and economic reality on both sides. Although during and since the Cold War, the international relations analysis of the Red Sea geopolitics has emphasized the role great and regional powers, particularly the coastal state and non-state actors in the Horn of Africa have also played an important role in it. Their agency in political, security, and economic affairs has been significant, and in their local context paramount, to the understanding of the complex geopolitical reality in the Red Sea.

The proposed paper seeks to highlight the agency of the Horn of Africa state and non-state actors in the Red Sea affairs. It shows how these actors choose alignments and foreign partnerships based on pragmatic and transactional approaches and mainly seek to use them to improve their position in domestic political and economic competition. However, they also play a geopolitical role through the pursuit of their regional and international aspirations, interests, and objectives, because their actions have internationally significant outcomes.