Kenya’s public protests and deadly violence over proposed tax increases this week highlight some of the country’s most serious challenges: high youth unemployment, deepening poverty and the glaring gap between living conditions for the country’s elite and its urban poor. This social crisis is exacerbated by severe corruption, a stifling foreign debt and a too-violent response by Kenyan police, who have a poor record in handling large demonstrations. Steps to calm this crisis are vital to preserve Kenya’s overall stability, its role as an East African trade hub — and its capacity to serve as a leader for peace, which the United States increasing has relied upon in Africa and elsewhere.

Type: Analysis

Economics;  Global Policy

The state visit to Washington last week by Kenya’s President William Ruto provides a moment in which to assess not simply a major U.S. bilateral partnership in Africa, but the progress of the United States’ declared intent to build a strategic partnership with the continent overall. The U.S. government in 2022 declared that partnership vital to U.S. interests — a recognition of Africa’s rising economic potential and its inevitably central role in all efforts to build global stability and prosperity in this century. Former assistant secretary of state for Africa Johnnie Carson, now a senior advisor at USIP, assessed the visit and the progress in building that new, transatlantic partnership.

Type: Question and Answer

Global Policy