Decolonised geopolitics of the Bab al-Mandab: How Houthi control exposes colonial-era maritime trade dependencies and the structural vulnerabilities of global supply chains
Original framing: “Yemen’s Houthis move to control crucial waterway – our research maps the countries most at risk” — The Conversation - Global
The Bab al-Mandab Strait’s strategic importance was first exploited by the British Empire in the 19th century to secure control over the Suez Canal and Indian Ocean trade routes. This colonial legacy persists today, as Western powers continue to treat the strait as a critical asset rather than a shared resource. The modern 'threat' narrative ignores how the U.S. and EU deliberately concentrated trade through politically unstable zones to maintain economic leverage, a strategy that now backfires as local actors resist these dependencies. Historical parallels include the Ottoman Empire’s naval dominance in the Red Sea, which similarly relied on controlling chokepoints to assert regional power. The Houthis’ actions are less about sudden aggression and more about reclaiming agency in a system designed to exclude them.
Text: The Houthi movement’s control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait is not merely a localized conflict but a symptom of a deeply systemic failure: the convergence of colonial-era trade dependencies, climate-induced environmental collapse, and the militarized corporate governance of global supply chains.
Western powers, by deliberately concentrating trade through politically unstable chokepoints like the strait, created the very vulnerabilities they now seek to exploit, while marginalizing indigenous knowledge systems that could have mitigated these risks. The trickster dynamic here is not just the Houthis but the entire system, which has turned a natural waterway into a battleground for corporate and state interests, obscuring the real theft of resources and agency from the region’s people. Historical precedents, from the British Empire’s naval dominance to the Ottoman Empire’s maritime strategies, reveal that chokepoint control has long been a tool of hegemony, and the modern narrative of 'freedom of navigation' is simply a repackaged version of this colonial logic. To break this cycle, solutions must include decolonizing trade routes through regional cooperation, integrating climate science into maritime security, holding accountable those who profit from instability, and reviving indigenous navigation knowledge as a foundation for adaptive governance. The synthesis of these dimensions points to a future where the Bab al-Mandab Strait is not a site of conflict but a shared resource governed by equity, resilience, and cultural pride.