Kenya’s Foreign Policy at a Glance

A review of the article titled ‘Kenya's foreign policy in context (1963–2015)’ by Faith Mabera

In the introductory page of her article, Faith Mabera (2016) asserts that in reviewing Kenya’s foreign since independence, the intention is to establish evidence of continuity, get the key themes as well as factors both within and outside the state that influence the conduct of foreign policy. In looking at the context, she argues that the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative which seeks to change the image of how Africa is viewed has similarities with what Kenya seeks to attain with Vision 2030 meant to transform the state into a middle-income country. Another context entails Kenya’s geographical position in the Horn of Africa surrounded by states with prolonged internal conflicts that have a spillover effect pushing regional peace and security to the top of Kenya’s foreign policy goals.

As a regional kingpin, Kenya has had to play an extensive role in peace building through multilateral and soft power diplomacy making great use of IGAD and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region while contributing troops to the United Nations(UN) and the African Union (AU) for peacekeeping missions hence raising her profile internationally. Having become a key strategic ally of the West in the global war on terror, the military invasion into Somalia showed a readiness to use hard power to defend geostrategic interests although it came with consequences of revenge attacks on the Kenyan territory (Mabera, 2016, p. 367).

In reference to John Howell, the author makes a case that Kenya’s foreign policy has been radical in nature and idealistic at the international level whereas being more conservative and legitimist closer home. In the run-up to the presidential election of March 2013, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto made the International Criminal Court their punching bag by portraying the court as a neo-colonial project through propaganda that made them look like victims of an imperialist agenda. (Mabera, 2016, pp. 368-370). However, Kenya has done its best to maintain a position of ‘positive non-alignment’ even after the Cold War although it has relied on the West for foreign aid and security arrangements. From dispatching powerful delegations in the 60s to countries with different ideological leanings to Kibaki’s and Kenyatta’s ‘Look East’ strategy which never closed the door to the West, it is clear that this pattern will continue especially in this globalized environment where multilateralism is key.

The dominant themes from this review include Pan-Africanism, regionalism, nationalism and multilateralism. The author opines that from independence, a majority of African states majored Pan-Africanism in their foreign policy objectives including Kenya culminating into the push for the Tripartite Free Trade Area(TFTA) aimed at enhancing continental trade. Regionalism has been a difficult road for Kenya with the formation and collapse of the East African Community then its revival and although ideological differences or suspicions still exist, the new regionalism is people-centred rather than state-centric focusing on development integration. Kenyan nationalism has been influential in the formulation of the state’s foreign policy emanating from the struggle for independence leading to the elevation of Jomo Kenyatta as a Pan-Africanist something that gave him a high standing in the continent the same nationalism that his son Uhuru rode on to the presidency. The final theme is multilateralism whereby Kenya is involved in several regional and international organisations like the AU and the UN in addition to Nairobi hosting the headquarters of the UN Environmental Programme and UN-Habitat (Mabera, 2016, pp. 373-376).

The author asserts that Kenya’s foreign policy has not been without internal and external influence. From the article, there is no argument that Oginga Odinga’s sympathy with communist ideology worked to Jomo Kenyatta’s advantage since the British concluded that his rival was a threat to be neutralized. The dependence on foreign aid and security support has made Kenyan foreign policy more pro-West. After the end of the Cold War, Moi was pressured into opening up the democratic space leading to the amendment of section 2A of the constitution. It is important to note that leadership personalities have been instrumental with Jomo being more Pan-Africanist and capitalistic, Moi’s foreign trips in what came to be known as ‘golden age of diplomacy’ that saw Nairobi become home to two UN agencies, Kibaki’s economic diplomacy termed ‘Look East’ that opened up engagements with non-Western partners and Uhuru’s ICC offensive using ‘shuttle’ diplomacy that brought significant changes to the procedures of the court.

Faith Mabera concludes that Kenya’s foreign policy revolves around Pan-Africanism, regionalism, nationalism and multilateralism based on five pillars outlined as peace, economic, diaspora, environmental and cultural diplomacy but from her analysis, I can also add the aspect of Kenya being more liberal leaning than realist in her foreign policy objectives or actions. Notwithstanding the fact that military response to Al-shabaab in Somalia and the Shifta war to eliminate attempts of secession were both an expression of hard power, Kenya has to a great extent embraced liberal policies of democracy since the repeal of section 2A, transnational relations through regionalism, complex interdependence by being more proactive in global trade and institutionalism demonstrated by active participation in international organisations. When it comes to the role of leadership, she could have gone further to tell us about other key figures like Tom Mboya, Smith Hempstone, Robert Ouko and Kalonzo Musyoka.

References:

Mabera, F. (2016). Kenya's foreign policy in context (1963–2015), South African Journal of International Affairs, 23:3, 365-384, DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2016.1254677