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Third Time Lucky? Devolution and State Restructure under Kenya’s 2010 Constitutional Dispensation

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African State Governance

Abstract

Kenya has had a history of electoral competition at the parliamentary and civic levels since the authoritarian era of single-party rule, including high turnover of incumbents during parliamentary and civic elections. But before reverting to multiparty elections in 1991, there were effectively no presidential elections. The presidential behemoth remained an impediment to democratization owing to the absence of oversight institutions and the doctrine of separation of powers. The constitution promulgated in 2010 sought to remedy this democratic defciency by chipping away at the presidential behemoth through the creation of checks and balances and counties as a second tier government.

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© 2015 Westen K. Shilaho

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Shilaho, W.K. (2015). Third Time Lucky? Devolution and State Restructure under Kenya’s 2010 Constitutional Dispensation. In: LeVan, A.C., Fashagba, J.O., McMahon, E.R. (eds) African State Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137523341_6

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