RELIGION, ELITES AND SANCTIONS IN NORTHEAST AFRICA: REGIONAL IMPACTS OF SUPERPOWER MESSIANISM

Abstract

The article exposes the regional context of geostrategic rivalry between the United States and China in Northeast Africa (NEA) against the backdrop of the emerging formation of a new bipolar world order and the messianic ambitions of the superpowers. The author predicts a significant increase in NEA’s geo-economic and strategic importance, due to the dominant vectors of global development and aspects of national interests of each of their superpowers. The article offers a detailed analysis of the evolution of NEA’s confessional space through the last 50 years and of the role of religious factors in the superpower rivalry in the region. The author arrives to the conclusion that the ruling, business and religious elites of the region have taken a wait-and-see attitude in the battle unfolding between the superpowers and do not want to unambiguously associate themselves with either side.