Running head: KENYA’S POLITICAL HISTORY 1
KENYA’S POLITICAL HISTORY 10
Kenya’s Political History and Current Political Regime
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Introduction
Kenya is a very important country in the world basically due to its strategic location in the East African region. It is a country that has had an interesting political walk that despite the challenges it has faced, it has managed to pull through though with an interesting history to tell. There have been different regimes in the country since it acquired its independence. Worth noting is that these regimes have come into power through different ideologies and they have guided the country in different directions. The country was colonized by the British and acquired its independence in the year 1963. Notably, Kenya is considered to have been a colonial invention which had to contend with the colonialists.
There is a rich historical analysis of the country’s past prior to it acquiring its independence. However, not much attention has been given to the period post when the country acquired its independence. This is a critical period that followed when the country started to regain its glory and self-realism. A
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The first regime change was engineered to give the Kikuyu oligarchy power and control over the government of Kenya. This also led to the economic as well as the political decay in the country. When the regime was changed next, the country was plunged into a situation where there was a high trajectory of the ethnic tensions in the country. The resource distribution of the country was also affected to a great extent. The country almost fell into a military government when a coup was attempted in 1982 (Osborne, 2014). However, it was not successful. On the contrary, this failure set the country in a Kalenjin-led authoritarian government/regime (Horsnby,
Before the war, Somalia had a well-functioning democratic republic government. Under the 1979 Constitution, the president held executive power. The president was the head and leader of the country’s sole legal political party, The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. Elected to serve a 7-year term, the president was nominated by the party’s central committee. Ever since the civil war in 1991, when the government collapsed, Somalia has been in a state of civil war and anarchy (“Somalian Government”).
In East Africa, there is an area know as the Great Rift Valley. It is in this Great Rift Valley, where the world’s most dominant long distance runners come from, Kenya. In the past three decades, runners from Kenya have simply dominated the sport of long distance running in all facets including cross-country, track, and the marathon. In the world rankings for marathon running, Kenyans hold 8 of the top 10 spots for the men and 6 of the top ten spots in women’s rankings. (Entine, Par. 2) But how can one country be so overpowering in a sport that anyone can participate in? There are a number of factors that all work together to make Kenyan runners the best of the best. Rigorous training regimens, the physical geography of Kenya, country and world support of the athletes, genetics and early participation of children are all factors in the study of why Kenyan runners are by far the best long distance runners in the world. To start off, you must look at the physical geography in which the Kenyans train.
While the United States has a long-standing foothold on the oil in Africa, China has been dominating the other natural resources available for the past 20 years (Bhorat 2013). Additionally, the current perception of President Obama in Kenya seems to have changed dramatically over the recent years. While much of the letdowns were due to high expectations on the Kenya’s population, the general consensus was that President Obama has not done much to help improve the current state of the Kenyan economy. The current programs in Africa are programs that were enacted or established by President's Clinton and George W. Bush (Mwangi 2013). This has allowed the Chinese government to move in and expand operations in the region.
This investigation seeks to discover whether or not the Sepoy revolution in 1857 had a sufficient impact on India’s rise to independence and separation from the British Empire. The Sepoy revolution was a revolution of the Sepoy soldiers in 1857, and complete independence from the British Empire was not achieved by Indians until 1947. Therefore, did the Sepoy revolution catalyze their rise to independence, or was independence inevitable? The impact of the Sepoy Revolution will be found by looking at the effects of the Sepoy revolution and determining whether or not they were key factors in the rise to independence. A variety of sources will be used.
Caroline Elkins is a professor of history and African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya is a sober recounting of Britain’s attempt at imperialism in Kenya. Not just a British-version of colonialism in Kenya, what sets this book apart from accepted histories of colonialism in Kenya is Elkins’ deviation from the accepted version of the Mau Mau rebellion.
Economic and regional rivalries have caused numerous military coup d'‚tats and changes of government since 1960. The Marxist-Leninist military government in power since 1972, led by Brig. Gen. Mathieu Kerekou, relaxed its authority somewhat during the late 1970s and improved relations with France.
For this assignment I chose to write about Jomo Kenyatta. After reading chapters three and four of Khapoya’s book, it was hard to imagine an Africa that wasn’t under colonial rule. I can only comprehend on a very basic level the impact colonialism had on the Africans economically, physically, and mentally. It is inspiring to read further and discover the immense, calculated, and passionate efforts that many Pan African leaders played in the years that followed. I found Jomo Kenyatta to be particularly interesting. For many reasons, Kenyatta is considered one of the most significant leaders of the Pan African movement in the twentieth century. Kenyatta had a clear vision of what he wanted for Kenya (or Africa as a whole), he was prepared for the path he would have to take, and he accomplished much for the country and continent as a whole.
“The sun never sets on the British Empire,” Great Britain often bragged. By 1914, about 85% of the earth’s surface was colonized by Europe. Between 1884 and 1885, The Berlin Conference took place to carve up the African continent (Background Essay). Europeans saw high potential in Africa and thought the continent was empty, even though it was not. It was roughly “untouched” and they thought they could do anything they wanted (Doc.1). Great Britain’s colonization in Kenya affected the country’s religion and culture, education, and government.
A reason why Sierra Leone is probably more corrupt that any other diamond evident country is that Sierra Leone has an unstable government, and things such as law enforcement, poor leaders and poor overall structure of government has made this the weak nation it is today. The way this country has resided in diamonds to quickly fix poverty, caused the laws of the nation to suffer from it. However, in a country such as America, we tend to have strict laws regarding everyone from government officials, to everyday citizens. If a government official is not enforcing or abiding by the rules of a country, these Political leaders are held accountable, and it will reflect onto them. This is not the case in Sierra Leone, as to to where their dictator-like rule has no such penalty.
Is a Democracy Really What You Think It Is? What is considered an ideal democracy? Would it be where the people rule directly or where there are representatives who organize the government?
A number of policy interventions have been originated since independence to address the growing employment problem in Kenya, and with that, make an attempt at bettering the lot of the Kenyan youth. The earliest among these were the Kenyanization policies adopted at independence in which it was envisaged that young Kenyans would quickly take over duties and responsibilities from departing colonial staffers. Other policy measures included promotion of growth and development of the informal and jua kali sector in the 1990’s.
The roots of the colonial history of Kenya travels back to the Berlin Conference in 1885, whe...
In Kenya, it is comprised of several different groups that are distinct ethno-linguistic. Over several decades, Kenya has evolved both biologically and culturally. This culture has a great diversity of customs and family patterns. To understand the families in Kenya, it is also important to understand their culture backgrounds and where they come from. Family has a high value in this culture and is considered the center of community life. The children here hold an upmost importance because it can be considered an economic advantage having more children and also wives too. It is common here for families to have eight or more children because there was a
Kenya is a republic of East Africa. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean on the southeast. The capital of Kenya is Nairobi. It is located in the south central part of the country. It has a population of 1.5 million. The National Musum of Kenya, the National Theater and the University of Nairobi are in the city.
Postcolonialism is the continual shedding of the old skin of Western thought and discourse, and the emergence of new self-awareness, critique, and celebration. With this self-awareness comes self-expression. But how should the inhabitants of a colonial territory, or formerly colonized country or province see themselves, once they have achieved their independence?... ... middle of paper ...