Support or subvert? Assessing devolution's effect on central power during Kenya's 2017 presidential rerun

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2182550
AutoresHannah Waddilove (University of Warwick, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen13
Número2
Páginas334-352
Fecha de publicación2019-04-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Eastern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1753-1055 • E-ISSN: 1753-1063
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17531055.2019.1587951
OpenAlexW2922421594
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas30

Devolution introduced new local-level political offices in order to transform Kenyan politics by reducing the high stakes around the presidential race. The controversy over the 2017 presidential election rerun, however, saw pressure on county-level politicians to support either the ruling party or opposition coalition, underlining the important intersection between national and county politics. Using a broadened definition of ‘political linkages’, this paper explores the logics shaping how and why county-level politicians responded to the rerun as they did, comparing ruling party and opposition areas. Different forms of linkage politics indicate that devolution’s effect on central power is not uniform across counties, challenging the view that devolution simply leads to a recentralisation of power. The reproduction of national partisan divides at the county level suggests that devolution’s effect on central power is contingent partly on the way that national and county political alliances intersect. Given Kenya’s fluid national electoral alliances, devolution’s effect on central power is therefore not stable and may change with each electoral cycle

Devolution (biology · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Presidential system · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America · Public Administration