Transregional Conflicts and the Re-spatialization of Regions “at Sea”: The Yaoundé Process in the Gulf of Guinea

  • Jens Herpolsheimer (M.A., Leipzig University)

Abstract

Since the 2000s, actors in but also beyond West and Central Africa have increasingly identied the Gulf of Guinea as a space of strategic importance, beset by “maritime insecurity” reaching across established regional boundaries. Consequently, especially ECOWAS, ECCAS, and the Gulf of Guinea Commission, their member states, and “international partners” have sought new ways of transregional cooperation, leading to the creation of the Yaoundé Process in June 2013. Responding to a lack of attention to maritime issues / sea space in security studies and regionalism literature, this article analyzes the Yaoundé Process. Applying a spatial perspective, the articletraces its origins / emergence, main actors and entanglement in trans-more global dynamics. It argues that this process has intimately linked to the formatting and ordering of trans- and interregional space(s) both “at sea” and “on land”.

Available Formats

Published

2018

How to Cite

Herpolsheimer, J. (2018). Transregional Conflicts and the Re-spatialization of Regions “at Sea”: The Yaoundé Process in the Gulf of Guinea. Comparativ, 28(6), 68–89. https://doi.org/10.26014/j.comp.2018.06.04