The post-Hormuz era offers Africa a great opportunity

As the disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz continues, African economies have taken a heavy hit. This is despite the fact that they possess vast energy and other resources. Four years ago, the Russia-Ukraine war had a similar impact.As we enter what I call the post-Hormuz era – a time in which the global system is no longer defined by a single chokepoint – Africa has the unique opportunity to reverse its fortunes and emerge from the periphery of world geopolitics.Instead of being a passive supplier of resources and a recipient of strategic decisions taken in other geographies, it can create its own geopolitical context. Here is how.What African states fearThe first step in Africa’s transformation is a collective push to overcome what I have termed thalassophobia: a historical tendency among African states to regard the sea above all as a physical boundary rather than as a space of economic, political and military projection.For decades, the African strategic imaginary was shaped above all by terrestrial threats — wars of national liberation, civil wars, insurgencies, coups d’etat and border conflicts. The sea remained peripheral not only in public policy but also in the st...