Terrorism in Africa: Its Social and Economic Impacts in Kenya

Abstract

As the world becomes more globalized and liberalized, it would be idealistic for any state to presume it can insulate herself from the international community amid the evolving global events that elicit divergent responses from various international actors. Terrorism is also here with us, its long recorded existence poses an alarming threat to international peace and security, Africa, like any other continent has not insulated herself from terrorism, this adds to the need for more interrogation of issues, can Africa really chart the way for its destiny in matters regarding international security and peace, given the fact that in almost 500 years it has not been considered an equal partner in the running of the international system but only as a provider of human and natural resources and a recipient of culture, technology and wholesome ideologies, and all international systems seem to focus on maintaining the status quo? This project delves into the history of terrorism in Africa, presenting the key drivers of terrorism in Africa, before proceeding to evaluate the social and economic impact of terrorism in Kenya, a country chosen as the case study and outline the institutional and strategic measures that the government of Kenya has put in place in order to counter terrorism. The study will be guided by the following objectives; analyzing the key drivers of terrorism in Africa, provide an analysis the social and economic impacts of terrorism in Kenya, specifically focusing on; the impacts of terrorism on tourism industry in Kenya, impacts of terrorism on trade in Kenya, and the impacts of terrorism on religion integration in Kenya. The study will be guided by the relative deprivation theory by Samuel A. Stouffer, who provides a critical analysis of feelings and ideas of deprivation which can stir conflicts that can spill into terrorist activities which in cause adverse social and economic consequences. The study will adopt a mixed method research design, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The data will be collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data will be collected using questionnaires that will be sent out to the respondents. Secondary data will be collected by analyzing the literature in Academic Journals, policy documents, periodicals, books, newspapers, and academic papers and magazines, TV documentaries on the social economic impacts of terrorism in Kenya.

The target population of the study will be individual from various sectors of economy in Kenya. The ministry of foreign affairs, the minister of immigration the ministry of trade and the anti-terrorist police unit. About 30 respondents will be targeted. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected in the study during the data collection process. Quantitative data will be collected using the closed ended items of the questionnaire. The quantitative data will be assigned nominal, ordinal and interval values and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency tables and percentages.