IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ist/iujspc/v0y2019i76p159-180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethnicity and Politics in Kenya’s Turbulent Path to Democracy and Development

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Otieno KISAKA

    (Hacettepe University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Sociology, Ankara, Turkey)

  • Israel Nyaburi NYADERA

    (Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Political Science and History, Ankara, Turkey)

Abstract

This article examines the manifestation of ethnicity in Kenyan politics and its impact on Kenya’s democratic path and development. It questions the salience of ethnicity in politics and traces the origin of ethnic consciousness to the colonial era. Efforts by the successive regimes to advance a national identity have proved futile as all of them have worked to calcify it through its exploitation and politicization. We utilize an intersection of theoretical approaches to zoom in on the overwhelming nature of ethnicity in politics. The crux of our argument is that ethnicity has, over time, been used for by the self-aggrandizing political elite for self-serving interests and it is our opinion that the historic handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga provided another unique opportunity for de-ethicising Kenya’s politics and for strengthening the existing institution.Keywords: Çalışma hayatı, Çobanlık mesleği, Çoban çalışma hayatı, Atyolu, Şenkaya

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Otieno KISAKA & Israel Nyaburi NYADERA, 2019. "Ethnicity and Politics in Kenya’s Turbulent Path to Democracy and Development," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(76), pages 159-180, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ist:iujspc:v:0:y:2019:i:76:p:159-180
    DOI: 10.26650/jspc.2019.76.0002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/757144
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/iusskd/issue/47029/589183
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26650/jspc.2019.76.0002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dercon, Stefan & Gutiérrez-Romero, Roxana, 2012. "Triggers and Characteristics of the 2007 Kenyan Electoral Violence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 731-744.
    2. Elischer, Sebastian, 2008. "Ethnic Coalitions of Convenience and Commitment: Political Parties and Party Systems in Kenya," GIGA Working Papers 68, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Omondi Denin Ominah, 2023. "The Mirage of Issue-Based Politics in Africa. A Case Study of Kenya’s Presidential Election Campaigns from 2013-2022," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(10), pages 2444-2463, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefano Costalli & Luigi Moretti & Costantino Pischedda, 2014. "The Economic Costs of Civil War: Synthetic Counterfactual Evidence and the Effects of Ethnic Fractionalization," HiCN Working Papers 184, Households in Conflict Network.
    2. Andrea Colombo & Olivia D'Aoust & Olivier Sterck, 2019. "From Rebellion to Electoral Violence: Evidence from Burundi," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(2), pages 333-368.
    3. Muhammad, Andrew & D’Souza, Anna & Amponsah, William, 2013. "Violence, Instability, and Trade: Evidence from Kenya’s Cut Flower Sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 20-31.
    4. Rasmané Ouedraogo & Idrissa Ouedraogo, 2019. "Gender Equality and Electoral Violence in Africa: Unlocking the Peacemaking Potential of Women," IMF Working Papers 2019/174, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Kuppens, Line & Langer, Arnim & Ibrahim, Sulley, 2018. "‘A teacher is no politician’: Stereotypic attitudes of secondary school teachers in Kenya," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 270-280.
    6. Michael Wahman & Edward Goldring, 2020. "Pre-election violence and territorial control: Political dominance and subnational election violence in polarized African electoral systems," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 93-110, January.
    7. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero, 2021. "Victims of electoral violence and their children experience irreversible stunting: The long-term welfare effects of electoral violence," HiCN Working Papers 364, Households in Conflict Network.
    8. Olivier Sterck, 2020. "Fighting for Votes: Theory and Evidence on the Causes of Electoral Violence," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 87(347), pages 844-883, July.
    9. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero, 2012. "An Inquiry into the Use of Illegal Electoral Practices and Effects of Political Violence," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-16, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    10. Fiedler, Charlotte, 2015. "Towers of strength in turbulent times? Assessing the effectiveness of international support to peace and democracy in Kenya and Kyrgyzstan in the aftermath of interethnic violence," IDOS Discussion Papers 6/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    11. Werner, Katharina, 2016. "Whom do people trust after a violent conflict? Experimental evidence from Maluku, Indonesia," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-73-16, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    12. Gutiérrez-Romero, Roxana, 2024. "The intergenerational impact of electoral violence on height and human capital," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 608-630.
    13. Thomas Markussen & Kitavi Mbuvi, 2011. "When Does Ethnic Diversity Lead to Violence? Evidence from the 2007 Elections in Kenya," Discussion Papers 11-19, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    14. Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero & Adrienne LeBas, 2020. "Does electoral violence affect vote choice and willingness to vote? Conjoint analysis of a vignette experiment," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 77-92, January.
    15. Carl Müller-Crepon, 2022. "Local ethno-political polarization and election violence in majoritarian vs. proportional systems," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(2), pages 242-258, March.
    16. Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2013. "War Signals: A Theory of Trade, Trust, and Conflict," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(3), pages 1114-1147.
    17. Mwangi S. Kimenyi & Roxana Gutierrez Romero, 2008. "Identity, Grievances, and Economic Determinants of Voting in the 2007 Kenyan Elections," Working papers 2008-38, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    18. Inken von Borzyskowski & Patrick M Kuhn, 2020. "Dangerously informed: Voter information and pre-electoral violence in Africa," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(1), pages 15-29, January.
    19. Christopher Ksoll & Rocco Macchiavello & Ameet Morjaria, 2021. "Electoral Violence and Supply Chain Disruptions in Kenya's Floriculture Industry," NBER Working Papers 29297, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. David Fielding, 2015. "Understanding the Etiology of Electoral Violence: The Case of Zimbabwe," Working Papers 1505, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2015.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ist:iujspc:v:0:y:2019:i:76:p:159-180. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ertugrul YASAR (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifisttr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.