Foreign Policy Blogs

Cautious Optimism in Kenya

Is Kenya starting to heal? Thousands of Kenyans displaced by the post-election violence are beginning to return home, which is a sign that people are moderately confident that resuming their lives is safe, or at least safer than it was in the wake of the disputed election.

The Kenya situation embodies what may well prove to be an example of the sort of crises Africans may face in years to come: While devastating, the post-election chaos did not devolve into a permanent state of war. Perhaps this marks progress of a sort in the post-colonial era. One wonders if Zimbabwe might not experience the same throes after Mugabe goes (whenever that may be). Counter Kenya with, say, Somalia or the pretty much constant state of affairs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

Author

Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is a Professor of history and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is also Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. Derek writes about race and politics in the United States and Africa, sports, and terrorism. He is currently working on books on bus boycotts in the United States and South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s and on the 1981 South African Springbok rugby team's tour to the US. He is the author of three books, dozens of scholarly articles and reviews, and has published widely on current affairs in African, American, and European publications. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He writes about politics, sports, travel, pop culture, and just about anything else that comes to mind.

Areas of Focus:
Africa; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Apartheid

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