In Africa, the new electoral freedoms of the 1990s often ushered in not less but more violence and corruption. Somewhat paradoxically, democratization appeared to lead to greater despotism. Current theories of democratic transitions fail to adequately explain this negative "fall out". On the one hand, by focusing on formal institutional change, most transitions theory marginalizes the "informal" politics of patronage and violence. On the other hand, theorists of "informal" politics tend to assume that formal institutional change does not impinge on patrimonial dynamics. This thesis explains how the advent of electoral freedom challenges patrimonialism and, in the process, deepens local despotism. By a careful look at the Kenyan case, this thesis argues that the re-introduction of multiple political parties posed a genuine challenge to highest level patronage networks. This challenge consisted of "patronage inflation": competitive elections escalated demands for and promises of patronage just as international conditionalities and economic difficulties led to a decline in traditional supplies of patronage. Further, with multiple political parties, voters gained bargaining power to demand both resources and accountability. A critique of patrimonialism emerged into the public realm, particularly from those who had lost out in the spoils system, the growing numbers of poor and landless. These challenges were met by counter-strategies on the part of those most set to lose by a turnover in elections. With the introduction of alternative political parties, President Moi and key patronage bosses instigated localized but electorally beneficial violence in the form of "ethnic clashes". In their struggle to maintain patrimonial dominance, they also increasingly turned to less internationally scrutinized public lands as a patronage resource, leading to increasing and increasingly violent "land grabbing". This triggered counter mobilizations which aimed at reasserting local co

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No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union has encouraged democratisation in most parts of Africa. At the same time, Western donors' attitudes towards r~cipients of foreign aid have changed. This has resulted in a new practice, which attempts to force Third World states to move toward liberal democracy by conditioning lending on the holding of mUlti-party elections. In Africa this has resulted to the holding of multi-party elections. This study attempts to examine donor conditionalities and democratisation in Kenya by examining the results of 1992 and 1997 multi-party elections. Kenya attained independence from the British and ushered in a multi-party democracy in 1963. Since then, the country has undergone a full circle of political development, starting with a multi-party democracy at independence, through a one party dictatorship between 1982 and 1992 and back to a multi-party democracy in 1993. The need to satisfy foreign donors forced the leadership to amend Section 2(A) of Kenya' s constitution that had legalised single-party rule in 1982 thus allowing plural politics. The externally pressured transition to multi-party democracy though has resulted in increased corruption, state-sponsored ethnic violence, continued political authoritarianism and disastrous economic mismanagement of what was once considered a model for the continent. This study urges that Western donors should focus less on elections and more on the fostering of democratic institutions through breaking patterns of neo-patrimonial rule that have inforn1ed and continue to inform politics in Kenya. Political reforms have been resisted by the incumbency in the fear tha! they may curtail the power of the political leadership whose main objective has been to cling to power.

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This thesis deals with the Harambee as an indigenous lived philosophy and its capacity of empowering the poor in the Kenyan Anglican Church. From a historical perspective, it explores and scrutinises the origins, the definition and the philosophy behind Harambee. The thesis shows how Harambee was incorporated in the Kenyan Anglican Church and how it has been used as a survival strategy in the midst of the dominant development models which have failed to address the social-economic and political issues in Kenya. The thesis notes that even though Harambee is promoted in Kenya as a cultural, socio-economic and political philosophy its basic orientation is in harmony with the Christian theology. In this regard, the thesis offers a theological understanding of Harambee in the light of themes such as creation, imago Dei, incarnation, justice, redemption, love and solidarity. In undertaking this task, the thesis attempts to shed more light on how Harambee is in harmony with the principles and values of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) model. It argues that Harambee shares many concerns with ABCD even though Harambee has a Kenyan cultural flavour. Therefore, it affirms that Harambee as a lived philosophy is likely to empower the poor in the community, and the Kenyan Anglican Church should consider enhancing Harambee to mobilise the local resources. In view of this, the study highlights various projects initiated by the church through Harambee and it concludes by proposing that the Church needs to go beyond humanitarian programmes and initiate sustainable projects that can address the causes of poverty thus striving to make the twenty-first century a century of hope for millions of people who are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.