Essay

During the time period 1850-1914, even though Britain imperializing, Kenya was, in turn, very beneficial for the inhabitants of Kenya. However, the direct rule of Britain put Kenya through a massive transition from being independent to being colonial dominant, in which the natives of Kenya had lesser rights than did before and were treated inhumanely. Before being imperialized, Kenya was already divided into forty-two tribes. The two main kinfolks to be known are the Masai and the Kikuyu. These tribes helped in making the country's diversity, rich culture and heritage. Nonetheless, Kenya didn’t have much global contact; however, they did trade with the Arab merchants but kept it limited because they wanted to preserve their traditional

Being about to notice the fact that political leaders and many others in the government are embezzling found was bad enough but that they went as far as to be obvious is even worse, and it describes Somalia perfectly. Somalia has other problems along with a bad government; there a perfect location for terrorist attacks, poverty, hunger, and the rise of warlords. The article, State Failure, State-Building, and Prospects for a “Functional Failed State” in Somalia, tries to describe the issues in building government Institutions to help the people of the country in order for them to become a more developed country. For the last two decades Somalia has been in a bad shape, and construction of (an) institution(s) has been taking an extensive amount of time. Mostly due to the funds not reaching the right places and the lack of motivation to build a better central government. From most of the evidence collected for the article show that local laws seem to work best, people running their towns, homes, and businesses the way that they see best rather than depending on the government to inforce their laws. According to what seems to be working, informal government such as the what the small town made to keep things going peacefully, are better at building institutions then formal governments, thus it said that “institution building might not be for Somalia”. Seeing how the creation and betterment of the formal government institution has created many problems, it’s not a big surprise that small more focused policies work best for a country that can’t depend on its

In Jessica Posner’s and Kennedy Odede’s Find Me Unafraid, there is a part of Kennedy’s narrative that details the unrest associated with the political election in Kenya. He speaks of how many people within the Luo and Kikuyu tribes were turning to violence, killing one another, even innocent children, as a way to show their frustration with the unjust system they were born into. From forced circumcision to burning down homes with families inside to slashing people with machetes, lives were being taken in gruesome ways, in the name of justice. Reading about a tragedy, one so similar to what was seen in Rwanda a decade earlier, led to the question, “What was the most influential cause of the Luo-Kikuyu massacres after the 2007 election?”. I plan to explore whether the massacres were simply a result of unhappiness about Mwai Kibaki becoming president or if there were deeper, more substantial causes of the massacre.

2. Somalia has a fractured political past. There has been little stability in the country since it gained independence from Great Britain in 1960.1 However, in 2011, an internationally backed organization took over Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. Now called the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), they ratified a constitution and held the nation’s first ever presidential election in 2012.1 This new government has made strides in stabilizing Mogadishu, but much of the nation is still divided. Two major regions, Somaliland and Puntland, have their own independent governments and consider themselves self-autonomous.1 Also, the FGS isn’t flawless. A second

Before knowing, the conflict of colonialism of Kenya; you need to know about colonialism. Colonialism is “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” It was said that Kenya was the “study for human history”. It was a learning process of colonialism and imperialism, of conquered other countries for the needs of materials (or any way to supply your country).

The ethnicization of politics began when European colonial powers transformed race and tribe into a static entity for the colonial legal project (Mamdani, 2002). Much like the Bantustans completely ethnicized society in apartheid-era South Africa (Handley, 2015), ethnicity became important for the colonial “divide and conquer” strategy throughout the continent. Administrating a large African populace could only be completed through a differentiation of ethnic identities. Unfortunately, most African states maintained this systematic segregation of peoples through decolonization and the post-colonial era. The patrimonial elites that inherited power in the post-colonial government could use this strategy to ensure a longer political rule (Hagg & Kagwanja, 2008). The result of segregation in Kenya recently transformed into political turmoil. Where Kenya is an example of an emerging democracy in the African context, ethnicity is viewed with trepidation (Jung, 2000). The proclaimed “2007-2008 Kenya Crisis” exemplifies the notion of ethnic tension. In this paragraph, I

President Trump has promised billions of dollars to Texas to help with the flooding from Harvey, but lately the Republican part of the House of Representatives has been asking Donald Trump over and over again to cut money off of the project and use it for the border wall. The House has been asking for about 876 million dollars to be cut from the project. But Donald Trump said that he would make Mexico pay for the wall, so no matter what happens, Donald Trump might not be in a good place.

In contrast, modern Kenyan culture has also affected Grace Ogot’s life as well, which plays a role in her writings and point of view as well. One of Grace Ogot’s main reasons for becoming a political figure was to give the Luo people a voice in Kenya’s government. The reason why is because Kenya’s government is basically made of leaders from the main tribes and the power comes from alliances made between tribes so that a tribe has more power from the rest. Kenya’s unstable government makes it more susceptible to corruption among the tribes and government officials (“Tribal”).

Somalia is situated in the horn of Africa, it is made up of six clan families: Darod, Dir, Hawliye, Isaq, Digil and Mirifle. All of which contain sub-clans, then lineages and then down to extended family. We can see already massive ethnic divides throughout the country that could lead to a weak state. Each clan represents a cultural cleavage and fragmentation within society, a reason of conflict pointed out by Brown (in Jackson: 2002). Mohammed Siyaad Barre, president of Somalia from 1969 to 1991 led a dictatorship ruled through the narrow clan base of Darod, while condemning and excluding those from other clans (Adam: 1999). Furthermore denying them any political space, creating a state of discriminatory po-litical institutions and intergroup

Kenya is divided into eight provinces that enable its citizens to voice their constitutional rights and elect representatives. The President is both chief of state and head of the government, chosen from among the members of the National Assembly, and elected by popular vote

b. Although Kenya had fertile soil in the highlands, aggressive commerce, and small minority of European settlers, there were still problems shortly after their independence. Unlike Tanzania, Kenya was capitalist by being more open with foreign investment and profit incentives. However, it led to inequality between the classes because Kenya had a large landlessness, unemployed, and poverty population. In addition, the constant conflicts between the ethnic groups and tensions between farmers and pastoralists contributed to political

Throughout time, nations far and wide have come to Europe for guidance. Just recently, hundreds of people have fled to Europe from the Middle East. After they arrive, they must look to their new nation’s leaders for help and advice. Europe is a safe haven for people worldwide. In a Kenya without these people, the poor could own land

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

Kenya is very lush and is mainly cool which attracted the interest of European explorers. Countries such as Britain steadily increased their influence in the area by introducing missionaries and sending explorers throughout the nation. By the late 19th century, Britain controlled Kenya and declared it a British colony (“Countries and Their Cultures”). The British attracted people from Europe by creating more economic and political opportunities for Europeans to move to Kenya. They would allocate large pieces of land to British citizens, which would displace the natives, or offer them political positions in the government. The British implemented segregation which led them to forcing Kenyans to work as “squatters” on the land of the British but in truth, they weren’t any different from slaves. Kenyans tried resisting British policies by protesting but this only angered the British. The British colonists reacted by killing twenty five people which came to be known as the Nairobi Massacre (“Countries and Their

In order to paint a comprehensive picture of elections as a catalyst of violence and discord it's important to distinguish this type of political violence as it differs in its timing and motivation. Election violence experienced in the democratization process of african states can be categorized as either incidental or strategic. The latter can take place pre or post elections and the former may occur as a result on pre existing tensions that is often triggered by an incident. Incidental violence is which can occur pre and post elections and often triggered by political impropriety and forms on the basis of timing, intent, target and actors and without much strategy and lack thereof planning a clash between protesters or rival