African Navies Research Network

African Navies: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

New book edited by Tim Stapleton (published Nov 2022)

This edited volume focuses on aspects of the understudied theme of African seapower, including African navies and the engagement of non-African navies with the continent.

Africa possesses 48,000 kilometers of coastline, comprising 38 out of 54 of the continent’s states and several strategic choke points for international shipping, such as the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Aden, and the Cape of Good Hope. Nevertheless, post-colonial Africa’s small navies and their relations with the navies of external powers have not received much scholarly attention. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, this collection attempts to address this neglect and stimulate further research by offering original chapters related to historical and contemporary themes around Africa’s navies. The historical chapters cover the origin of the Tanzanian, Ethiopian, Nigerian and Ghana navies during the era of decolonization and the Cold War, the asymmetrical naval campaign fought during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), and the activities of the Soviet Navy in supporting African states and movements fighting lingering colonialism and white supremacy during the 1970s and 1980s. Focusing on the contemporary situation, other chapters discuss the engagement of the Indian Navy with Africa, the potential role of the Angolan and Mozambican navies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the transformation and development of the post-apartheid South African Navy, and the challenges and capabilities of African navies in the early twenty-first century.

This book will be of much interest to students, scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners involved in various aspects of naval power and strategic studies, as well as African politics and International Relations.

With the support of a DND MINDS grant that facilitated the initial work of the African Navies Research Network, Chapters 1, 2, 6 and 8 of this book are available for free in Open Access. These are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Those chapters available in PDF here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003309154/african-navies-timothy-stapleton

The book can be ordered in hard cover or eBook formats here: https://www.routledge.com/African-Navies-Historical-and-Contemporary-Perspectives/Stapleton/p/book/9781032313191

our NETWORK

Expert Community

Our goal is to identify and highlight researchers and practitioners working on a broad array of topics related to African navies as military institutions, as national institutions, as capacity-enablers for maritime security and the blue economy, as diplomatic actors, as targets of external capacity-building or operations, and as technical-developmental stakeholders. If you are interested in any aspect of African seapower (past, present, and future), join our global network.

Current Projects & African Seapower Webinar Series

Since the launch of the network in 2021, a number of projects are underway. These include the first edited book with contributions from experts based in Africa, North America, and Europe (published in Nov 2022); launch of our "African Seapower" webinar series in February 2022; and facilitation of policy relevant articles in high quality policy, think tank, military, and academic outlets. We'll also promote relevant events (webinars, conferences, book or report launches) organized by other organizations.

African Seapower Webinar Series

African Navies Research

Experts, practitioners, students, and faculty at professional military education (PME) institutions, maritime academies, and universities produce all sorts of reports, theses, briefing papers, etc., which may not get published in academic or trade outlets but which should reach a wider audience. Our goal is to make it easier to find and share work on African navies and relevant maritime security, seapower, and blue economy topics (in any language).

Research and Events

African Navies

African Navies research Network