The Mirage of Democracy in Kenya: People's Struggle for Information as an Aspect of the Struggle for Liberation

Abstract

The commonly-heard phrase "emerging democracies" seems to imply that democracy is emerging all over the world. A general impression has been created in the Western world that since the end of the Cold War, "democracy" was emerging in the world today. Nothing can be further from the truth. While we will not go into an analysis of what has happened in Eastern Europe and U.S.S.R. , it should be remembered that the formation of a large number of political parties which may objectively represent the class interests of just one class does not automatically imply that there is "democracy". Nor does the existence of a Parliament in itself signify that there is democracy. Kenya, for example, has had a Parliament for over 30 years, but there is no democracy there yet.