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Ylönen, A. (2021). African Agency in the Current Horn of Africa - Arab Relations: Asymmetricism Reconsidered. New Gulf Streams Middle East and Eastern Africa intersected - 4th AEGIS Thematic Conference of the Collaborative Research Group Africa in the Indian Ocean.

A. E. Ylönen,  "African Agency in the Current Horn of Africa - Arab Relations: Asymmetricism Reconsidered", in New Gulf Streams Middle East and Eastern Africa intersected - 4th AEGIS Thematic Conf. of the Collaborative Research Group Africa in the Indian Ocean, 2021

@misc{ylönen2021_1776971622701,
	author = "Ylönen, A.",
	title = "African Agency in the Current Horn of Africa - Arab Relations: Asymmetricism Reconsidered",
	year = "2021",
	url = "https://gulfstreams.cei.iscte-iul.pt/programme/"
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - African Agency in the Current Horn of Africa - Arab Relations: Asymmetricism Reconsidered
T2  - New Gulf Streams Middle East and Eastern Africa intersected - 4th AEGIS Thematic Conference of the Collaborative Research Group Africa in the Indian Ocean
AU  - Ylönen, A.
PY  - 2021
UR  - https://gulfstreams.cei.iscte-iul.pt/programme/
AB  - Countries in the Horn of Africa have for long maintain foreign relations with their counterparts
in the Arabian Peninsula. These relations have been described as asymmetric because the Arab
states involved in the Horn of Africa have often been viewed as more powerful in the
relationship. This asymmetricism is often also seen to be related to the largely transactional
economic nature of these relations.
However, although asymmetricism and associated transactionalism are often used as a
theoretical framework to explain interaction in the relations between the Arab and Horn of
Africa states, this approach fails to fully account for the agency of the latter. Considering the
states in the Horn of Africa as subservient, the asymmetric approach based on bilateral
relations depicts the Horn countries as having narrower space for pursuing their foreign
relations than what the case is in reality. It also largely fails to emphasize the broader role of
economic diplomacy in these states’ wider relations with their foreign partners.
The proposed paper will deal with current relations between the states in the Horn of Africa
and the influential countries in the Arabian Peninsula. It shows how the narrowness of the
asymmetric approach is unable to fully capture the reality in these relations by diminishing the
agency of the Horn of Africa states. The paper, therefore, highlights the importance of
adopting a broader approach, including factoring in domestic political dynamics and wider
foreign relations, in order to gain an improved understanding of the agency of Horn states in
their relations with powerful countries in the Arabian Peninsula.
ER  -