The rise of a mediated state in northern Kenya: the Wajir story and its implications for state-building

Abstract

In an anarchic corner of northern Kenya in the mid-1990s, a collection of local non-state actors led by a women’s market group created an umbrella movement that came to establish an impressive level of peace and security across an entire region. The Kenyan government forged a formal relationship with this group in Wajir, essentially sub-contracting out important functions of local government to local civic leaders, and using its partnership with the Wajir group as a template for similar state-sanctioned governance arrangements in other troubled border areas of the country. The Wajir story is examined in this article as an example of a “mediated state” approach to rebuilding rule of law through non-state actors in a conflict and post-conflict setting.

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