An East African perspective for paradigm shift on maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region

Abstract

This paper advances the view that the meaning of maritime security should be considered based on lessons of history and requirements of human well-being. It challenges the tendency to separately view maritime security from the political, economic and social structures of the East African littoral states. Based on a critical reading of the history of the development of violent colonial structures in the region, the paper shows that most security discourses in relation to East Africa advance a paradigm that legitimises the control and management of the region's maritime domain under the surveillance of foreign powers. The framing of poverty and conflicts as internally caused and economically motivated power struggles within fragile states contributes to this paradigm. This paper argues that the East African maritime domain is an integral part of the hinterland, and maritime security should be understood from a perspective that addresses structural violence in the region