An original study on the strategic dimensions of Kenya encompasses in-depth examinations of the Kenya Armed Forces, political and military relations with key neighboring countries, and Kenya's crucial strategic relationship with the United States.
Kenya plays a key role in the conflicts between the Western and Islamic worlds, making a grasp of its politics, international relations, military services, and security status an important study. Global Security Watch—Kenya provides a thorough introduction to the security issues facing the modern-day nation, offering policymakers, researchers, and general readers a window into this globally important, sub-Saharan country.
This expert analysis is the first to examine the strategic dimensions of Kenya and the political and military circumstances that have shaped the country. Following an overview of Kenya’s history, geography, and politics, the book explores the development of the Kenya Armed Forces; Kenya’s critical relations and security issues in Greater East Africa, particularly with Tanzania, Uganda, and Somalia; and the country’s strategic relations with the United States. Drawing on objective historical and contemporary research, interviews with influential figures, and his own first-hand experiences, the author underscores Kenya’s enduring strategic importance and offers recommendations on policy decisions.
Features
- Includes biographies of Kenya's three presidents since independence
- Presents interviews with influential figures
- Offers a chronology of Kenya's strategic history from precolonial times to the present
- Provides a political map of the African continent and a detailed political map of Kenya
- A multifaceted bibliography of key political and military sources—historical, scholarly, and contemporary
Donovan C. Chau, PhD, is assistant professor of political science and a core faculty member in the master's program in national security studies at California State University, San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA. Dr. Chau's teaching and research focus on international politics and strategic studies, with emphasis on Africa, East Asia, terrorism, and counterterrorism.
Reviews
“There is perhaps no area of the world for which American policy makers and analysts need to acquire a strategic perspective as much as Africa, whose significance for the political, economic, and security interests of the United States grows each day. In that context, Kenya, which plays an important role both in its East Africa region and in the broader geopolitical space that embraces Africa, the Greater Middle East, and the Western Indian Ocean, cannot be ignored. Donovan Chau’s study, the first of its kind, is a welcome contribution to our understanding of a pivotal state and its role in America’s twenty-first century security framework.”—Dr. J. Peter Pham
Senior Fellow and Africa Project Director at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA)
"Global Security Watch: Kenya is a simple but persuasive first-rate primer that fills the void of literature on a subject that for many years has been shrouded in secrecy. It is an engaging expose of a landscape few dared to tread on for fear of exasperating the securitocrats. While incisively analyzing Kenya’s highly sensitive security issues without compromising scholarship and facts, Dr. Chau expertly and carefully wades through the hitherto forbidden national security terrain, and provides a reader with an infallible guide to Kenya’s military history. This superbly written and path-breaking book about African state security is a must-read for policy makers, scholars, military historians, military strategists, security experts and any with an interest in African political history."—Dr. Wafula Okumu, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Security Studies
Praeger Security International
International security in the 21st century is not a topic that can be adequately addressed in nightly news soundbites or online articles intended to be relevant for 24 hours or less. Comprehending these complex issues requires insight from foreign policy specialists, diplomats, military officials, peace scholars, historians, and security experts—participants and observers on all sides of each conflict. This series provides the tools for understanding security issues in our uncertain, unstable world.
Covering global hot spots from Iran to Venezuela and subjects ranging from terrorism and cyber warfare to food security, books in the Praeger Security International series give readers access to carefully considered and highly informed viewpoints on the critical security issues that threaten to destabilize our world. With titles authored by diplomats, academic researchers, journalists, military leaders and combatants, legal experts, psychologists, and other knowledgeable specialists, these books offer in-depth analysis and international perspectives that are unavailable in the mass media. These titles represent an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and policymakers as well as for anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of the complex issues that affect our lives and future.Features
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