Regional powers going abroad: Extra-regional geoeconomic strategies of India, Türkiye, and the EU in the Horn of Africa

Abstract

Since the end of the cold war, scholars have been debating the concept of geoeconomics as an alternative to geopolitics for an international system in which the significance of military power is supposedly superseded by economic power. However, while a clear definition and conceptualisation of geoeconomics continues to be absent, its relevance for global dynamics has become undeniable in the context of great power competition, and beyond. Whether called regional, middle, or emerging powers, countries like India or Türkiye are playing an increasingly important role, particularly in the economic domain, in which they leverage economic power for both political and economic gain. However, while much research and theoretic framework exist concerning regional powers' geoeconomic statecraft in their respective regions, their increasingly extra-regional engagement, although evident, remains under-conceptualised. This thesis will therefore assess the utility of a framework to analyse and characterise regional powers' extra-regional geoeconomic strategies. This thesis proposes the use of Wigell's (2016) ideal-type framework for regional powers' geoeconomic strategies to be compatible with the analysis of extra-regional engagement. Through a plausibility probe case study, it will give insight into the utility and...