The October 2011 Kenyan invasion of Somalia: fighting al-Shabaab or defending institutional interests?

ABSTRACT

This paper asks why Kenya invaded Somalia in October 2011. It scrutinises five possible explanations as to why Kenyan decision-makers decided to invade neighbouring Somalia. The explanations are inspired by different theoretical frameworks. Some are inspired by theories developed to analyse Western societies, whereas others are inspired by theoretical reflections aimed at understanding politics in Africa. It is concluded that the decision to invade Somalia was made because of the institutional and ‘bureaucratic’ interests of the Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) advanced by a limited number of men of Somali-Kenyan origin who pursued their own interests. Security and economic concerns did play a role, while the paper dismisses that the invasion can be understood as a consequence of the Kenyan government pursuing an ‘international image management strategy’. Theoretically, the paper concludes that ‘Western’ theories may contribute to explaining the launch of ‘Linda Nchi,’ whereas Africa-focused theories like neo-patrimonialism seem less helpful in this particular context.

KEYWORDS:

• Bureaucratic interests
• terrorism
• Kenyan Defense Forces
• national security
• neo-classical realism
• neo-patrimonialism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Gorm Rye Olsen is a Professor in Global Politics at the Institute of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Denmark. He has written widely on European Union-Africa relations, EU security politics and EU development aid policy. Recently he has also published on the Africa policy of the United States. He has published on these themes in a range of international journals such as Third World Quarterly, International Politics, European Security, Journal of European Integration and Cambridge Review of International Affairs.