The Kenya Shifta War and Realism
The Kenyan Shifta War (1963 – 1968) and its Realism base and Power Pursuit.
In this essay I am going to discuss the Kenyan war that has emerged in 1963 due to long-lasting grievances about bad treatment from British colonial isolation and ethnic Somali in Kenya irredentism drive to unite all other five Somali lands with Kenya into a greater Somalia. The issue of British colony had otherwise been much less to do with this war, the main reason to war was that of irredentism by Somalis. This conflict went on as Somalis resisted from being governed by a dark skinned government of the Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta while at the same time seek unity. Somali seek independence at the expense of Kenya. Somalia wanted to be in power to rule a unified greater Somalia but Kenya couldn’t let their borders be destroyed due to ethnic driven irredentism by Somalis. The Somali independence threatened the national and political unity in Kenya. Thereafter the effects or results of these differing goals led to the Shifta war of 1963. The main point of which I intend to further emphasize in this essay is the interlink of the Realism operating system that existed in the beginning to the end of this war. I will further in this essay outline how power and force was used to reach the ends of this war. The main point of this essay shows the understanding of realism aspects that are interlinked with this war or conflict. I shall further in this essay argue on how the theory of Realism and power pursuit by Somalis led to the outburst of this war called Shifta and how it brought about end to this conflict.
At the heart of this war there is a high power drive or fight for power by both Kenya and Somalia and both states were highly motivated to use force of aggression to be the most powerful state. Somalis in Kenya had an idea of breaking the borders of Kenya and merge it with the other five states of Somalia to form a greater Somalia. This was based on the idea of the common ethnicity by
In this essay I am going to discuss the Kenyan war that has emerged in 1963 due to long-lasting grievances about bad treatment from British colonial isolation and ethnic Somali in Kenya irredentism drive to unite all other five Somali lands with Kenya into a greater Somalia. The issue of British colony had otherwise been much less to do with this war, the main reason to war was that of irredentism by Somalis. This conflict went on as Somalis resisted from being governed by a dark skinned government of the Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta while at the same time seek unity. Somali seek independence at the expense of Kenya. Somalia wanted to be in power to rule a unified greater Somalia but Kenya couldn’t let their borders be destroyed due to ethnic driven irredentism by Somalis. The Somali independence threatened the national and political unity in Kenya. Thereafter the effects or results of these differing goals led to the Shifta war of 1963. The main point of which I intend to further emphasize in this essay is the interlink of the Realism operating system that existed in the beginning to the end of this war. I will further in this essay outline how power and force was used to reach the ends of this war. The main point of this essay shows the understanding of realism aspects that are interlinked with this war or conflict. I shall further in this essay argue on how the theory of Realism and power pursuit by Somalis led to the outburst of this war called Shifta and how it brought about end to this conflict.
At the heart of this war there is a high power drive or fight for power by both Kenya and Somalia and both states were highly motivated to use force of aggression to be the most powerful state. Somalis in Kenya had an idea of breaking the borders of Kenya and merge it with the other five states of Somalia to form a greater Somalia. This was based on the idea of the common ethnicity by
Bibliography: Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, Fifth Edition, Revised, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, pp. 4-15) Raymond Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1966), pp. 591-600 Acton’s Political Philosophy, G.E. Fasnacht, 1952 The political Thought of Baldus De Ubaldis, T. canning, 1987 Political Theories of Modern Government, Its role and reforms P. Self, 1985 Globalization: Theory and Practice, E. Kofman and G. Young 2nd edition 2003 Baltic Security and Defence Review, Bandit of Patriot: The Kenyan Shifta War 1963 – 1968, Major John Ringquist p 100 – 121, 2011 http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=cab359a3-9328-19cc-a1d2-8023e646b22c&lng=en&id=136881 https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/morg6.htm