Explaining ethnic and land-based conflicts from a social constructivist approach: The case of Rift Valley, 2007-2008

Abstract

The Rift Valley is widely viewed as the eye of the storm in Kenya since the first outbreak of ethnic and land-based conflict in the region in 1992. Conflict has since 1992, erupted every five years during the general election period pitting different ethnic groups aiainst each other. The violent eruptions have in all the election periods brought out the sharp divide among the different communities along ethnic lines and the long standing explosive issue on land ownership. The objective of the study is to explain ethnic and land-based conflict in the Rift Valley from a social constructivist approach against a backdrop of the primordial and instrumentalist approaches that have dominated debate on the issue. The study also seeks to analyze the political, social and economic dynamics that have been constructed and reconstructed resulting in antagonism between different ethnic communities in the region.

The data for this study was sourced through primary sources through semi- structured questionnaires and face to face interviews. The qualitative approach used was to get an understanding of how actors give meaning and socially construct situations they are in and the significance they give to such situations. Secondary data was sourced through a desk study of information from the media, key organizations and other documents relevant to the study. Leadership played a key role in the 2007-2008 ethnic and landbased conflict that started in the Rift Valley and spread to other parts of the country. The introduction of multi -party politics in Kenya in 1991 with the repeal of Section 2A of the Constitution also partly triggered off the 1992 ethnic and land-based conflict in the Rift Valley because of a general misconception that this would automatically usher in democracy to solve problems that Kenya was faced with.