Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted between 2019 and 2025, this synthesis report examines how processes of commodification shape conflict dynamics across the Horn of Africa’s borderlands. Bringing together findings from five distinct borderland settings in South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Somali territories, the study analyses how resources, trade, mobility and revenue generation link local violence to wider political and economic systems. By situating Horn of Africa borderlands within global borderland scholarship, the report develops a comparative framework that connects conflict to changing forms of governance, state formation and economic capture – offering policy‑relevant insights for engaging borderland violence and peace.
Commodification and conflict in the Horn of Africa borderlands
How do resources, trade, mobility and revenue generation link local violence to wider political and economic systems.