BOOK LAUNCH – The Horn engaging the Gulf

BOOK LAUNCH

The Horn engaging the Gulf. Economic Diplomacy and Statecraft in Regional Relations

Friday 19th April, 2 PM

@ French Center for Ethiopian Studies, Berhanou Abebe Library (CFEE, Jan Meda)

By Aleksi Ylönen (Iscte, University Institute of Lisbon)

Aleksi Ylönen is a Researcher at the Centre for International Studies at Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon and an Associate Fellow at the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies. He specializes in politics and international affairs in the greater Horn of Africa. Dr. Ylönen’s work has been published in various scholarly and non-academic outlets. Among his salient works are The Horn Engaging the Gulf (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024), The Horn of Africa since the 1960s (Routledge, 2017), and On State, Marginalization, and Origins of Rebellion (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2016). He has written numerous scholarly articles for respected politics and international relations, political history, and area studies journals. Dr. Ylönen engages in frequent expert commentary for research institutions and conventional and online media.

The Horn Engaging the Gulf discusses theoretical perspectives of analyzing the relations between the states and non-state actors in the Horn of Africa and their counterparts in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. Crucially, these relations are examined primarily from the perspective of the diplomatic, economic, and strategic agency of the African states and societal actors. Here, domestic political dynamics and local power play a significant role.
Aleksi Ylönen provides a historically informed investigation of recent relations that involve the Gulf States and Türkiye’s resurgent interest in the Horn Africa. The analysis focuses on the post-Arab Spring period following the Iran nuclear deal and the war in Yemen. Featuring case studies from Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea which highlight engagements of the Horn state and societal actors primarily with the Gulf States and Türkiye, the study provides an empirical analysis of the interactions and connections between the two regions.

The discussant will be Katharina Newberry, research associate with the Institute of Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) at Addis Ababa University. She is currently working on a research project led by the University of Gothenburg, which explores developing relations between actors in the Horn and actors across the Red Sea. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews (UK).