Djibouti's Influence in Africa; Cultural Influence within Its Region, Global Importance and Its Effect on U.S Interest within the Horn of Africa

Abstract

The evolution of the United States' interest in the Horn of Africa has been systematic. It started after World War II and the advent of liberalism, to the cold war era, and was heightened after the events of September, 2001. In order to understand the essence of Djibouti upon the region, it is imperative to contextualise the politics of the cold war in Africa and the ideological battles between the former Soviet Union and the United States. The struggle of these two nations after the cold war and the shifting forces within the region reacting to the waves of the fall of the iron curtain and the global campaign for democracy. The exclusion of French Somaliland (Djibouti) from soviet control post-1956 provides an unfettered ideological base for the United States This history will allow us to place Djibouti’s essence in perspective.