A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COUNTERTERRORISM RESPONSES: A STUDY OF KENYA AND AL-SHABAAB (1998-2017) BY DAMARIS WANJIKU KIMANI UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY- AFRICA SPRING 2018 i A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF COUNTERTERRORISM RESPONSES: A STUDY OF KENYA AND AL-SHABAAB (1998-2017) BY DAMARIS WANJIKU KIMANI A Thesis Submitted to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of a Degree of Master of Arts in International Relations (MIR) UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY- AFRICA SPRING 2018 ii STUDENT DECLARATION I, the undersigned declare that this is my original work and that it has not been submitted to any other College, Institution or University other than the United States International University for academic purposes. Signed: ________________________ Date: ___________________________ Damaris Wanjiku Kimani (ID NO: 649390) This thesis has been presented for examination with my approval as the appointed supervisor. Signed: ________________________ Date: ___________________________ Dr. George Katete Supervisor. Signed: ________________________ Date: ___________________________ Prof. Angelina Kioko Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Signed: ________________________ Date: _________________ Ambassador Prof. Ruthie Rono Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my family and many thanks to them for their unconditional support in the course of my studies. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my lecturer, Dr. Richard Bosire for inspiring me to take up research related to this topic, my project supervisor Dr. George Katete for his guidance through my research and my classmates for their encouragement. I would like to appreciate my family for their support throughout this graduate programme. I give thanks to God for His grace. v Table of Contents STUDENT DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION.................................................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................. v LIST OF ABREVIATIONSAND ACRONYMS .................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction and Background of Study ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ..................................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Hypothesis ............................................................................................................................................. 15 1.4 Objective of the Study ........................................................................................................................... 15 1.5 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 15 1.6 Scope of Research ................................................................................................................................. 15 1.7 Justification and Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 15 1.8 Limitation ............................................................................................................................................... 16 1.9 Chapter Outline ..................................................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................................. 18 2.0Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 18 2.1Literature Review ................................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.1The Nexus between Terrorism, the Use of Force and Repressive Policies. ........................................ 18 2.1.2 Terrorism and Islamophobia ............................................................................................................. 25 2.1.3 Terrorism, Force and Repressive Policies. .......................................................................................... 27 2.1.4Global Counterterrorism Responses Case Studies .............................................................................. 33 2.1.5 Kenya and Terrorism .......................................................................................................................... 42 2.2 Summary and Gaps in Literature ........................................................................................................... 52 2.3 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................................... 53 2.3.1Realism ................................................................................................................................................ 53 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................................................... 55 3.0 Research Methodology.......................................................................................................................... 55 3.1Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 55 3.2 Research design ..................................................................................................................................... 55 3.3 Data Collection Methods ....................................................................................................................... 56 3.4 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................................... 56 vi 3.5 Chapter Summary .................................................................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................................................ 57 4.0 Findings of the Study ............................................................................................................................. 57 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 57 4.2 Terrorism, the Use of Force and Repressive Policies in Kenya .............................................................. 57 4.2.1 Tracing Kenya’s Counterterrorism Responses, 1990-2010 ................................................................ 57 4.3 Implications of the Use of Force and Repression against Al-Shabaab in Kenya .................................... 66 4.3.1Case Studies ..................................................................................................................................... 69 4.3.2 Legislations on Counterterrorism ................................................................................................... 72 4.3.3 Legal Implications of the Kenyan Counterterrorist Strategies ....................................................... 74 4.4.4 Intelligence and Law Enforcement ................................................................................................. 77 4.4.5 Financial Control ............................................................................................................................. 78 4.4 The extent of threat of the Al-Shabaab in the Kenyan Territory........................................................... 80 4.4.1Al-Shabaab’s target population in the Kenyan attacks ................................................................... 80 4.4.2 Al-Shabaabs’ Framework ................................................................................................................ 82 4.4.3 A Weakened al-Shabaab ................................................................................................................. 85 4.4.4The al-Shabaab-Al Qaeda connection ............................................................................................. 87 4.4.5 Radicalisation and Al-Shabaab ....................................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER FIVE: 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