WORKING PAPER NO. 44 FEB 2021 Private Security Companies in Kenya and the Impact of Chinese Actors Shuwen Zheng and Ying Xia sais-cari.org WORKING PAPER SERIES NO. 44 | FEBRUARY 2021: “Private Security Companies in Kenya and the Impact of Chinese Actors” by Shuwen Zheng and Ying Xia TO CITE THIS PAPER: Shuwen Zheng and Ying Xia. 2021. Private Security in Kenya and the Impact of Chinese Actors. Working Paper No. 2021/44. China Africa Research Initiative, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.sais-cari.org/publications. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Shuwen Zheng Email:
[email protected] NOTE: The papers in this Working Paper series have undergone only limited review and may be updated, corrected or withdrawn. Please contact the corresponding author directly with comments or questions about this paper. Editor: Daniela Solano-Ward 2 CHINA-AFRICA RESEARCH INITIATIVE ABSTRACT SAIS-CARI WORKING PAPER This paper examines the development and impact of Chinese | NO. 44 FEBRUARY 2021: Private Security Companies (PSCs) in Kenya. Adopting a “Private Security Companies qualitative methodology approach, the study begins with an in Kenya and the Impact of extensive literature review, followed by the findings from a Chinese Actors” month of fieldwork conducted in Nairobi, Kenya. The first by Shuwen Zheng and Ying part of the paper illustrates how the private security market is Xia booming, thanks to the increase in global supply and demand. Then, the analysis turns to the legal, policy, governance, and oversight issues that private security contracting raises in both China and Kenya. Summarizing the field interviews with different stakeholders, we review three case studies to evaluate whether current business models used by Chinese PSCs are sustainable, and to what extent Chinese actors have penetrated the local market.