Introducing Race as a Variable Into the Political Economy of Kenya Debate

An Incendiary Idea

Bibliographic Data

ID7558413
AuthorsMichael Chege (Africa Center, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume97
Issue387
Pages209-230
Publication date1998-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9909 • E-ISSN: 1468-2621
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007926
OpenAlexW2034639375
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited1

The debate on the nature and development potential of ‘indigenous’ capitalism in Kenya seemed to have petered off indecisively in the 1980s. At that time some form of socialism was still an option for some of the debaters. Following the seemingly-global acceptance of free-enterprise as the developmental model of choice, however, the Kenya debate has been resurrected but in a different intellectual guise. In line with the revival (especially in the United States) of culture and ethnicity as determinants of economic prosperity, some non-Kenyan authors have faulted the 1980s literature for leaving out Kenyan-Asian capitalists, the principal protagonists of local entrepreneurship, who, it is argued accounted for Kenya's outstanding development performance in the high-growth years before independence in 1963, and the onset of economic regress under the Moi government in the early 1980s, by dint of their industry and cultural heritage. Without giving in to the undeserved Asian-bashing which this thesis has provoked in some Kenya-African political circles, this article provides evidence that credit for Kenya's economic achievements is more widespread and more race neutral. So is credit for the corruption and crass mismanagement that has characterized the Moi years. Considering the low intellectual pay-off and the high political dangers inherent in careless introduction of race and culture as operating variables to explain growth, the article advocates greater attention to analytical concepts that show more promise in accounting for inter-ethnic differences in material prosperity. These include law-based governance, a stable macroeconomic environment, and the strengthening of ‘social capital’ at community level

Capitalism · Corporate governance · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Good governance · Kenya · Language change · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Socialism · Sociology · Law · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

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