Virtual Lecture: Air and Sea Strategies, Maritime Security, and Ocean Governance in Africa
30 July 2024
On Tuesday 30th July 2024 at 6pm, Dr Samuel Oyewole will consider air and sea strategies, maritime security and governance in Africa. This talk will be hosted virtually via Crowdcast.
Talk Outline
Beyond internal waters, African countries share boundaries with several international waters, such as the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and have displayed interest in the Antarctic (or Southern) Ocean. Like elsewhere, these maritime domains are governed by international conventions, protocols, traditions, and treaties, which are critical to the freedom and security of the seas, as agreed, guaranteed, and enforced by African and other nations with interests in and around the region. However, maritime insurgency, terrorism, piracy, trafficking, dumping, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as great power competition and conflicts have threatened Africa’s maritime domains and interests. Consequently, many African countries, their Arab and European neighbours to the North, and some foreign powers have responded with maritime security strategies, which include military power.
Although military responses to maritime insecurity in the region, like elsewhere, are dominated by sea or naval power, they have equally featured airpower. Beyond the Second World War, however, little is known of air and sea strategies and operations for maritime security around Africa. Moreover, the few available studies on the subject are dominated by naval power narratives and are exclusively focused on the experiences of the United States, the European powers, and in some cases, competing foreign powers, thereby ignoring, or underestimating African and other relevant perspectives. Accordingly, this presentation seeks to bring African experiences and perspectives into the understanding of air and sea strategies and operations for maritime security and ocean governance around the region. Without disregarding the critical position of foreign powers, an inclusive narrative of the subject matter will contribute to better policy making, understanding and engagement, with effective strategic preparedness and performance within and beyond the continent, and decolonisation of military and strategic studies in Africa and the Global-South.
Location
This lecture will be livestreamed via the RAF Museum’s Crowdcast channel.
Tickets
This lecture is free but registration is required to attend. Follow the link below for quick and easy registration.
About Dr Samuel Oyewole
Samuel Oyewole is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Ocean Regions Programme, Department of Political Sciences, and the African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of Pretoria, South Africa. He also lectured at the Department of Political Science, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria. His research interests cover African affairs, military and strategic studies, crisis management, and international relations. His articles have appeared in many journals, including Astropolitics, Australian Journal of Maritime and Ocean Affairs, African Security, African Security Review, African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, Defense & Security Analysis, Defence Studies, Democracy and Security, Geojournal, Journal of Asian and African Studies, New Zealand International Review, Politikon, RUSI journal, South African Journal of International Affairs, Strategic Analysis, and Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. He is the author of Utilitarianism in Outer Space: Space Policy, Socioeconomic Development and Security Strategies in Nigeria and South Africa (Springer, 2024), and co-editor of Power Politics in Africa: Nigeria and South Africa in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge Scholar, 2020); Boko Haram’s Campaign of Terror in Nigeria: Context, Dimensions and Emerging Trajectories (Routledge, 2021); The Political Economy of Kidnapping and Insecurity in Nigeria: Beyond News and Rumours (Springer, 2024); Armed Banditry in Nigeria: Evolution, Dynamics and Trajectories (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
