Building a comprehensive approach “bottom-up”: a systematic comparison of the EU’s, the US’s and NATO’s strategies for providing security to the Horn of Africa

Introduction and analytical approach In a study of the European Union’s (EU) policies towards the Horn of Africa in terms of “actorness” and “power”, this chapter argues that these two concepts are inextricably linked to the EU’s elaboration of a “comprehensive approach” in this region. In fact, since the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 the EU has called for enhanced consistency in the different areas of EU external action and within its other policies (European Commission 2013). Furthermore, the region could be considered a laboratory for the implementation of such a policy given the fact that some analysts describe the EU’s policies towards the Horn of Africa as the EU’s flagship of its comprehensive approach (Hatzigeorgopoulos 2013, 4).