Organization and political participation in Kenya: civil and uncivil society MAGAART Conference on Stability, Democracy and Rights at Maseno University, 7-8 December 2015 Bodil Folke Frederiksen Roskilde University

Mungiki Social movement/organization/sect in Kenya, ? Based on generation (youth), ethnicity and religion (Kikuyu/Christian) Legal status: Membership based; prohibited Activities: Entrepreneurship, militia, extortion, control/ownership of infra-structure (matatus), support of victims of persecution, rituals as basis of belonging/cohesion Infiltration of political parties Political campaigns - representation

Questions What is politics Who is entitled to paticipate? Who is excluded? Where does politics happen? Who are entitled to convene public spheres/spaces? Which political issues are amenable to debate in ’convened public spheres/spaces’? Which take place outside these spheres/spaces?

Inspirations Subaltern history - Asia (Ranajit Guha, Partha Chatterjee) Theories on public spheres – Europe and Kenya (E. S. Atieno Odhiambo), Theories on political culture, civil society and democratic participation in Africa (Bruce Berman, Nelson Kasfir)

Propositions I Political participation in Kenya is broad and deep but not necessarily in pursuit of democratic transition and consolidation Kenyans find their avenue of political influence and activity in organisations based on collective identities and collective entitlements more than in those based on individual identity and rights

Propositions II Organisations based on individual rights exclude more than they include Inclusion and exclusion in organisations based on collective identities are rooted in histories of belonging

Propositions III In the West some identity based organisations are viewed as legitimate venues of political mobilisation and action: eg those based on gender, nation, class, some based on faith. Others are illegitimate: eg those based on ethnicity and caste, others based on faith The latter may be understood as making up ‘political society’ (Partha Chatterjee), participatory, influential, mobilizing and acting in ‘uncivil’ ways

Civil society Civil society politics: - legal - carried out by rights-carrying sovereign citizens - volutary associations - homogenous - accepts state authority - orderly

Political Society - on the border between legal and illegal, carried out by diverse population groups - constituted by state policies and interventions - recognizes difference - loyal to multiple authorities - negotiation with state institutions - messy