Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T00:24:58.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Protecting Education from Ethnic Politics

from Part II - Policies and Institutions for Social Cohesion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2019

By
Eric Kramon  and
Daniel N. Posner
Edited by
Hiroyuki Hino ,
Arnim Langer ,
John Lonsdale  and
Frances Stewart
Hiroyuki Hino
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina and the University of Cape Town
Arnim Langer
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
John Lonsdale
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Frances Stewart
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

By comparing the educational attainment of Kenyans whose years of primary schooling did and did not correspond with the tenure in office of a president from their own ethnic group, we provide evidence suggesting that Kenyan presidents have favored their coethnics in the allocation of educational resources. We discuss the implications of such bias, emphasizing that the main impact is to reinforce perceptions of ethnic favoritism in government allocation decisions that, in turn, fosters resentment across group lines, undermines trust in government, and raises the stakes of elections. We suggest that protecting education from ethnic politics might be achieved by three means: devolution, which may limit executive power and discretion over the distribution of resources; fostering public awareness and social mobilization in favor of more equity in the education sector; or the promotion of private schools as an alternative to the state-sponsored educational sector.

Keywords

EthnicityEthnic favoritismEducationKenya
Type
Chapter
Information
From Divided Pasts to Cohesive Futures
Reflections on Africa
 , pp. 300 - 321
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afrobarometer Data, [Kenya], [Round 3, 4, 5], [2005, 2006, 2008, 2008, 2012]. Retrieved from www.afrobarometer.org.Google Scholar
Amutabi, M. N. 2003. Political interference in the running of education in post-independence Kenya: A critical retrospection. International Journal of Educational Development. 23(2): 127–144.Google Scholar
Angrist, J., Bettinger, E., Bloom, E., King, E., and Kremer, M. 2002. Vouchers for private schooling in Colombia: Evidence from a randomized natural experiment. American Economic Review. 92(5): 1535–1558.Google Scholar
Barro, R. J., and Lee, J. W. 2010. A New Data Set of Educational Attainment in the World, 1950–2010 (NBER Working Paper No. 15902). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Bertrand, M., Duflo, E., and Mullainathan, S. 2004. How much should we trust differences-in-differences estimates. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 199(1): 249–275.Google Scholar
Beugelsdijk, S., de Groot, H., and van Schaik, A. 2004. Trust and economic growth: A robustness analysis. Oxford Economic Papers. 56(1): 118–134.Google Scholar
Bleck, J. 2015. Education and Empowered Citizenship in Mali. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Brady, H.E., Verba, S., and Lehman Schlozman, K. 1995. A Resource Model of Political Participation. American Political Science Review. 89(2): 271–294.Google Scholar
Bruns, B., and Luque, J. 2015. Great Teachers: How to Raise Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Cheeseman, N., Lynch, G., and Willis, J. 2016. Decentralization in Kenya: The governance of governors. Journal of Modern African Studies. 54(1): 1–35.Google Scholar
Chege, M. 2008. Kenya: Back from the brink?’ Journal of Democracy. 19(4): 125–39.Google Scholar
Clemens, M. A. 2004. The Long Walk to School: International Education Goals in Historical Perspective (Center for Global Development Working Paper 37). Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=1112670 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1112670. Accessed18 September 2018.Google Scholar
Dahl, R. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, L. 1999. Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, D., Kremer, M., and Ngati, M. 2008. The Impact of Distributing School Uniforms on Children’s Education in Kenya. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Friedman, W., Kremer, M., Miguel, E., and Thornton, R. 2016. Education as liberation? Economica. 83(329): 1–30.Google Scholar
Franck, R., and Rainer, I. 2012. Does the leader’s ethnicity matter? Ethnic favoritism, education and health in sub-Saharan Africa. American Political Science Review. 106(2): 294–325.Google Scholar
Gakidou, E., Cowling, K., Lozano, R., and Murray, C. 2010. Increased educational attainment and its effect on child mortality in 175 countries between 1970 and 2009: A systematic analysis. Lancet. 376(9745): 959–974.Google Scholar
Gallego, F., and Woodberry, R. 2010. Christian missionaries and education in former African colonies: How competition mattered. Journal of African Economies. 19 (3):294–329.Google Scholar
Gellner, E. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Grossman, M. 2006. Education and nonmarket outcomes. In Hanushek, E., and Wlech, F. (eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, vol. 1. New York: Elsevier, 577–633.Google Scholar
Hanushek, E., and Woessmann, L. 2007. Education Quality and Economic Growth. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Harding, R., and Stasavage, D. 2014. What democracy does (and doesn’t do) for basic services: School fees, school inputs, and African elections. Journal of Politics. 76(1): 229–245.Google Scholar
Hornsby, C. 2013. Kenya: A History Since Independence. London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Keefer, P., and Vlaicu, R. 2008. Democracy, credibility, and clientelism. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. 24(2): 371–406.Google Scholar
Kingdon, G., and Teal, F. 2010. Teacher unions, teacher pay, and student performance in India: A pupil fixed effects approach. Journal of Development Economics. 91(2): 278–288.Google Scholar
Knack, S., and Keefer, P. 1997. Does social capital have an economic pay-off? A cross-country investigation. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 112(4): 1251–1288.Google Scholar
Kramon, E., and Posner, D. N. 2011. Kenya’s new constitution. Journal of Democracy. 22(2): 89–103.Google Scholar
Kramon, E., and Posner, D. N. 2013. Who benefits from distributive politics: How the outcome one studies affect the answer one gets. Perspectives on Politics. 11(2): 461–474.Google Scholar
Kramon, E., and Posner, D. N. 2016. Ethnic favoritism in education in Kenya. Quarterly Journal of Political Science. 11(1): 1–58.Google Scholar
Krueger, A. B., and Lindahl, M. 2000. Education for growth: Why and for whom? (NBER Working Paper No. 7591). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Lipset, S. M. 1959. Some social requisites of democracy: Economic development and political legitimacy. American Political Science Review. 53(1): 69–105.Google Scholar
Miguel, E. 2004. Tribe or nation? Nation building and public goods in Kenya versus Tanzania. World Politics. 56 (3): 328–362.Google Scholar
Miguel, E., and Kremer, M. 2004. Worms: Identifying impacts on education and health in the presence of treatment externalities. Econometrica. 72(1): 159–217.Google Scholar
Mueller, S. 2011. Dying to win: Elections, political violence, and institutional decay in Kenya. Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 29(1): 99–117.Google Scholar
Nungu, M. 2010. Universalizing access to primary education in Kenya: Myth and realities. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education. 3(2): 1–10.Google Scholar
Nunn, N. 2014. Gender and missionary influence in colonial Africa. In Akyeampong, E., Bates, R., Nunn, N., and Robinson, J. (eds.), Africa’s Development in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 489–512.Google Scholar
Oketch, M., and Rolleston, C. 2007. Policies on free primary and secondary education in East Africa: Retrospect and prospect. Review of Research in Education. 31, 131–158.Google Scholar
Oyugi, E. 2000. The Legacy of Colonialism. Nairobi: Kenya Coalition for Social Watch.Google Scholar
Padro i Miquel, G. 2007. The control of politicians in divided societies: The politics of fear. Review of Economic Studies. 74(4): 1259–1274.Google Scholar
Reinikka, R., and Svensson, J. 2004. Local capture: Evidence from a central government transfer programme in Uganda. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 119(2): 679–705.Google Scholar
Robinson, A. 2014. National versus ethnic identification in Africa: modernization, colonial legacy, and the origins of territorial nationalism. World Politics. 66 (4): 709–746.Google Scholar
Rothchild, D. 1969. Ethnic Inequalities in Kenya. Journal of Modern African Studies. 7 (4):689–711.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Schultz, P. T. 2004. School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican PROGRESA Poverty Programme. Journal of Development Economics. 74(1): 199– 250.Google Scholar
Sifuna, D. N. 2005. The illusion of universal free primary education in Kenya. Wajibu. 19(2): 5–8.Google Scholar
Taylor, N., Muller, J., and Vinjevold, P. 2003. Getting Schools Working: Research and Systemic School Reform in South Africa. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa.Google Scholar
The Star. 2016. Secondary education to be free in 2019, Says Uhuru. 22 June 2016.Google Scholar
Uwezo. 2014. Are Our Children Learning? Literacy and Numeracy across East Africa 2013. Nairobi: Twaweza.Google Scholar
van de Walle, N. 2007. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss? The evolution of political clientelism in Africa. In Kitschelt, H., and Wilkinson, S.I. (eds.), Patrons, Clients, and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 50–67.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, C., and Kremer, M. 2004. School Meals, Educational Attainment, and School Competition: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS3523). Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Widner, J. 1992. The Rise of a Party-State in Kenya: From “Harambee!” to “Nyayo!” Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
World Bank (2018). World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Wrong, M. 2009. It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×