Post-Colonial Kenya
This engaging reassessment of postcolonial Kenya argues that the countrys political turmoil over the past 15 years is a continuation of repeating patterns of political contestation and conflict across Kenyas history.
When Mwai Kibaki stole the 2007 presidential election, leading to a spiral of violence that left over 1,000 people dead in the space of a month, many analysts wondered how this could have happened in a country that had previously been considered as an oasis of peace in an otherwise conflict-prone region. Combining political economy with political sociology, in this book Rok Ajulu demonstrates that, in fact, authoritarianism and the predatory deployment of the state have been the predominant features of Kenyas post-colonial period. Focusing on how power has been mediated in the country politically and the characters of the elites in charge, the analysis shows the dominance of extra-economic political coercion in economic activity. In a context in which economic activity remains predominantly political, continued control of state-power is so crucial for the new ruling class that it must be retained at all costs.
Rok Ajulus masterful final book is a powerful and wide-ranging contribution to studies on post-colonial Kenya and will be an important resource for researchers from across political science, economics, history, sociology and African Studies.
Rok Ajulu (19502016) was a renowned Kenyan academic and internationalist. A political economist, he obtained his DPhil from Sussex University then taught successively at Leeds University (199094), Rhodes University (19942003), the University of the Witwatersrand (200307) and thereafter at the University of South Africa (200810) as a research professor.
Contemporary African Politics
Politics, Public Policy and Social Protection in Africa
Evidence from Cash Transfer Programmes
Edited by Nicholas Awortwi and E. Remi Aiyede
Africas Checkered Democracy
Institutions, Participation and Accountability
Edited by Said Adejumobi
Africa Under Neoliberalism
Edited by Nana Poku and Jim Whitman
Urban Politics Under Apartheid
Whose Rainbow Nation?
By Sandrine Gukelberger
The Making of the Constitution of Kenya
A Century of Struggle and Quest for Legitimacy
By Charles O. Oyaya and Nana K. Poku
Neoliberal Globalisation and Resistance from Below
Why the Subalterns Resist in Bolivia and Not in Ghana
By Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno
Foreign Policy in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Elite Perceptions of Global Engagement
By Jonathan R. Beloff
Post-Colonial Kenya
The Rise of an Authoritarian and Predatory State
By Rok Ajulu
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Contemporary-African-Politics/book-series/ASHSER1403
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2022 Rok Ajulu
The right of Rok Ajulu to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ajulu, Rok, author.
Title: Post-colonial Kenya : the rise of an authoritarian and predatory state / Rok Ajulu.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Contemporary African politics | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021001051 (print) | LCCN 2021001052 (ebook) | ISBN 9781472461667 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315601625 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Kenya--Politics and government--1963-1978. | Kenya--Politics and government--1978-2002. | Kenya--Politics and government--2002- | Kenya--History--1963- | Kenya--Economic conditions--1963- | Authoritarianism--Kenya--History. | Economics--Political aspects--Kenya.
Classification: LCC DT433.583 .A37 2021 (print) | LCC DT433.583 (ebook) | DDC 967.6204-2-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021001051
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021001052
ISBN: 978-1-472-46166-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-60162-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315601625-1
This book is dedicated to:
All the progressive peoples of the world who have a burning urge to create a just, free and progressive world.
My country men who share a vision of a just and progressive Kenya;
My parents Rosalia and Stephen Odero Ajulu;
My children: Ayanda, Che, Vuyo, Achieng and Olindi.
My grandchildren: Aamani, Naledi, Thabo, Ayrton and Neo
Professor Rok Ajulu
Professor Rok Ajulu (19502016) was a renowned Kenyan academic and internationalist. Ajulus life was rich in productive scholarship; through this he made an immense contribution to the struggle for liberation in both Kenya and South Africa. A political economist, he obtained his DPhil from Sussex University then taught successively at Leeds University (199094), Rhodes University (19942003)with a year in fellowship at the African Studies Centre of Leiden University (2000)the University of the Witwatersrand (200307) and thereafter at the University of South Africa (200810) as a research professor.
Ajulu has written extensively on the political economy of Africa, its governments and their relationships with the global arena and its international actors. His work is underpinned by a career-long focus on the state and society, how they influence one another, and the effect that this interaction has on the process of democratisation. He is the author of a number of book chapters; notably, he co-edited Globalisation and Emerging Trends in African States Foreign Policy Making (2002) and The Remaking of a Region: The Revival of the East African Community (2005). In addition, he edited Two Countries One Dream: The Challenges of Democratic Consolidation in Kenya and South Africa (2009). Ajulu was also a contributing editor to the Review of African Political Economy and associate editor of Africa World Review.
Through the many protests and periods of exile that peppered his youth, Ajulu understood that the function of freedom was to free others. While studying at the National University of Lesotho he joined the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and his engagement in the countrys future found continued roots in his work. Ajulu served on the South African Presidential Review Group, where he contributed towards a review of South Africas approach to multilateral institutions; he also served on the advisory panel for the preparation of the United Nations Development Programmes
