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The Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics

Online ISBN:
9780191853227
Print ISBN:
9780198815693
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics

Nic Cheeseman (ed.),
Nic Cheeseman
(ed.)
African Studies Centre, University of Oxford
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Nic Cheeseman is the Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham, a former editor of African Affairs, and the author of Democracy in Africa: Successes, Failures, and the Struggle for Political Reform (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and How to Rig an Election (Yale University Press, 2018).

Karuti Kanyinga (ed.),
Karuti Kanyinga
(ed.)
Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi
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Karuti Kanyinga is Research Professor of Development Studies at the University of Nairobi. He is author of Kenya: Democracy and Political Participation (Open Society Initiative for East Africa, 2014) and co-editor of Tensions and Reversals in Democratic Transition: The Kenya 2007 General Elections (Society for International Development, 2010).

Gabrielle Lynch (ed.)
Gabrielle Lynch
(ed.)
Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
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Gabrielle Lynch is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Warwick, and the author of I Say to You: Ethnic Politics and the Kalenjin of Kenya (Chicago University Press, 2011) and Performances of Injustice: The Politics of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Kenya (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

Published online:
2 April 2020
Published in print:
14 February 2020
Online ISBN:
9780191853227
Print ISBN:
9780198815693
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Kenya is one of the most politically dynamic and influential countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, it is known in equal measure as a country that has experienced great highs and tragic lows. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kenya was seen as a success story of development in the periphery, and also led the way in terms of democratic breakthroughs in 2010, when a new Constitution devolved power and placed new constraints on the president. However, the country has also made international headlines for the kind of political instability that occurs when electoral violence is expressed along ethnic lines, such as during the “Kenya crisis” of 2007/2008, when over 1,000 people lost their lives and almost 700,000 were displaced. This Handbook explains these developments and many more, drawing together 50 specially commissioned chapters by leading researchers. The chapters address a range of essential topics, including the legacy of colonial rule, ethnicity, land politics, devolution, the Constitution, elections, democracy, foreign aid, the informal economy, civil society, human rights, the International Criminal Court, the rise of China, economic policy, electoral violence, and the impact of mobile-phone technology. In addition to covering some of the most important debates about Kenyan politics, the volume provides a comprehensive overview of Kenyan history from 1930 to the present day, and features a set of chapters that review the impact of devolution on regional politics in every part of the country.

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