Master's Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, grade: A, Dalarna University, course: Master Program in European Political Sociology, language: English, abstract: The Thesis has the aim to find out the reasons that stand behind the
post-election violence in Kenya. After incumbent Mwai Kibaki was
declared President over his competitor Raila Odinga on December
30, 2007, Kenya fell into two month of heavy bloodshed. The
cleavages where along tribal lines but different theories could
explain the happenings.
The four theories chosen are dealing with a Security
Dilemma, Resource Contesting, Corruptive Elites and Symbolic
Policy. It will be shown that dilemma or primordial hatred are
existing and contributing but not actual reasons to the initial
violence. In contrast, the contest over resources and the incitement
of politicians and elders are primary factors that led to the
thousands of death and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.