Expanding the Turkish Bid for Regional Control in the Somali Regional Security Complexes

Abstract

Somalia sits at the epicenter of the Horn of Africa regional security complex (RSC), and security actors seeking to alter the security conditions within Somalia have the potential to impact the broader RSC of the Horn of Africa. Turkey’s engagement within Somalia is largely built on soft power toolsets, including economic support, extensive aid programs, and emergency humanitarian assistance. The soft power toolsets mentioned in this chapter empower Turkey to bolster its strategic visibility in the Horn of Africa and thus to backup alliances formed in other regional security complexes in the Gulf Region and the broader Middle East. Ankara’s engagement with Somalia raises pertinent questions about how the Regional Security Complex Theory can account specifically for soft power capacities that enable actors who do not hold great or superpower status to act outside their major RSC.