Diversity Managment in Kenya

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Sociology - Miscellaneous, grade: A (excellent), Ethiopian Civil Service University (Federalism and Legal studies), course: Federalism, conflict Management in the Horn of Africa, language: English, abstract: After the Cold War and the transition towards democracy, inter-state conflict became prevalent, especially in Africa. Although Kenya is considered to be peaceful unlike her neighbors, a closer scrutiny reveals an unprecedented wave of internal and cross-border conflicts. These conflicts - mainly manifesting as political, economic; conflicts over natural resources, land and tribal clashes and lately terrorism - are sending signals that all is not rosy as the outside world has been erroneously been made to believe. It has experienced ethnic political violence around election periods frequently. The study investigates factors contributing to diversity related conflict in Kenya. It examined literatures on ethnicity, politics, democratic transition and political violence and the 2010 constitution to understand the nature of recurrent diversity related political problem in Kenya. The study found that in periods of political competition such as elections, political elites mobilize Kenyans along ethnic lines, which are perceived to be established voter blocs to ensure a victory to the highest office. The deliberate use of ethnicity is in line with the instrumentalist theory. Thus, this paper tries to recommend policy alternative to tackle the current diversity related problems in Kenya.