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Kenya: More Local than Global

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Conflict, Violent Extremism and Development

Abstract

The Kenya n case compares the operations and supporters of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahidin (Al Shabaab ) in Kenya and affiliated or sympathetic groups such as Al-Hijra —with two contemporary groups (the armed wing of the Mombasa Republic Council (MRC ) and the Mungiki ) as well as a historical group (the Mau Mau movement). Islamist violent extremism in Kenya cannot be understood without taking into account the dynamics in neighbouring Somalia , where Al Shabaab has been conducting an Islamist insurgency for several years. However, there are similarities in the aims, motivations and behaviour of Islamist and non-Islamist conflict groups, and the factors behind these similarities are mostly specific to Kenya .

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Glazzard, A., Jesperson, S., Maguire, T., Winterbotham, E. (2018). Kenya: More Local than Global. In: Conflict, Violent Extremism and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51484-0_2

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