The Politics of Performative Dialogue: A Critical Analysis of Kenya’s Democratic Process, 1990-2024
Abstract
This study critically examines the role of political dialogue in Kenya's democratization process between 1990 and 2024, with a focus on how elite-led negotiations have shaped the country’s political landscape. While political dialogue is globally recognised as a mechanism for democratic governance and conflict resolution, Kenya’s experience reveals a pattern of performative engagement, where elite political actors utilise dialogue to share and consolidate power and deflect transformative institutional reforms. Anchored in Elite theory, the study adopts a qualitative research design that draws on a broad range of secondary sources to analyse the structure and outcomes of key dialogue processes. The study established that Kenya’s dialogic processes have largely been reactive, exclusionary, and designed to preserve elite interests under the guise of national unity and reforms. These dialogues have also undermined democratic institutions, marginalised civil society, and eroded citizen trust in democratic processes. The study findings contribute to broader debates on democratisation in Africa and call for a reorientation of political dialogue towards inclusive, transparent, and constitutionally anchored dialogue as a foundation for transformative democratic reforms
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