“Abandoning diplomacy for confrontation.....is a dive over a cliff,” - Antonio Guterres, UN Chief

In introducing her thesis, Mary Wurtz opines that by relying on firsthand accounts from defectors, her key intention is to understand why North Koreans consume foreign media despite the danger it brings, the methods they use to access that information and the role that consumption has had on their perceptions. She adds that for the purposes of this project, foreign media means “any cultural product produced outside of North Korea, typically with a non-North Korean audience in mind.” Since it is illegal in North Korea to access radio, books or music not allowed by the state, the perils of being found doing so can include imprisonment, torture and public execution which can extend to your family members too. Despite the fact that the all-powerful Korean Worker’s Party is designated as the only legal source of information, North Koreans still take the risk to access content produced outside the state. An environment has been created whereby citizens do not trust anyone hence spy on each...

A review of the article titled ‘Playing Cold War politics’: the cold war in Anglo-Kenyan relations in the 1960s by Poppy Cullen Cullen (2018) seeks to show the leverage newly independent states specifically Kenya had over great powers during the Cold War- an ideological battle between the capitalist leaning states led by the likes of Britain and the United States against communist or socialist leaning states led by the likes of China and the Soviet Union. The article looks at Kenya’s foreign policy in the 1960s and having been colonized by Britain how it still sought to maintain those ties although the author’s central argument is to address the level of agency Africans had in shaping and directing these relationships as the Cold War went on. This is in contrast to what had been covered by other scholars who focused more on the agency of the superpowers (Cullen, 2018, p.38). In reference to the writings of Reynolds and McKay, the author opines that the Cold War provided Africans with...

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 sof...

Former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her biography describes Uhuru Kenyatta as capitalist and western schooled because of their family businesses and having studied in America respectively. Anderson (2003) asserts that Uhuru belongs to the powerful lineage of the Kenyatta family and was thrown into national politics by President Daniel Arap Moi untested and inexperienced. He was Moi’s chosen successor but lost to Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 general elections. He later joined Kibaki’s administration as Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government. After being indicted by the International Criminal Court over the 2007-8 post-election violence together with William Ruto, the two used radio stations like Kameme FM and Kass FM to portray themselves as victims (International Crisis Group [ICG], 2012). According to Malik (2016), the ICC indictments enabled them to consolidate Kikuyu and Kalenjin support leading to their ascension to power in 2013 something that shows...

The aim of this paper is to give a broad analysis of the circumstances that surrounded the rise of Daniel Toroitich arap Moi to become the longest serving president in the history of Kenya, starting in the year 1978 after the death of the first president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta all the way to 2002 when he handed over power. According to Kissinger (1966), foreign policy begins where domestic policy ends and that domestic structures must respond to the requirements of the environment. He then submits that the first goal of a statesman is survival. A key focus will be how the self-proclaimed ‘professor’ of politics went about his foreign policy and how the conditions at home shaped his decision making when dealing with other states. This will be presented in three parts that is his experience as he rose to power, the domestic scene and finally how he responded to the external environment.   The Rise of the ‘professor’ of Politics Daniel Arap Moi was the Chairman of Kenya African Democr...

Colonization can be defined as a way of establishing control over a given area or domain to your own benefit. In my last article, soft power was referred to as the ability to shape the preferences of others or essentially when one country influences the desired outcomes of other states through persuasion, education, public opinion, and appeal of cultural ideals and customs. For starters, America’s soft power and generally western European values have shaped for years the push for democracy, human rights, freedom of speech among other things across the globe with great effect whether you are talking about the lead to the collapse of the Berlin wall marking the end of the Cold war or democratic struggles in Africa, Asia and South America. However, the rise of China as a global power with an economy only second to the United States has raised concerns as to whether they can be tamed by such values. In his book on soft power, Joseph Nye clearly states how Western music, movies and radi...

“Soft power” is a term associated with political scientist Joseph Nye. He defines soft power as “the ability to shape the preferences of others,” or essentially when one country influences the desired outcomes of other states through persuasion, education, public opinion, and appeal of cultural ideals and customs. Nye compares this with “hard power,” which states harness when they use military force or economic pressure to force certain outcomes on the world stage (Wurtz, 2010). Let me admit that having gone through this book, I am inspired to lean more towards neo-liberal approach to international relations. This has been an eye-opener especially for some of us who highly rate America’s hard power. In the early chapters I had the feeling that the author was against military and economic strength but that seems not to be the case. What I have learnt is that military and economic power are essential, but they have their limits. The recent events where protests were held in Ghana aga...