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DAVID W. THROUP and CHARLES HORNSBY, Multi-party Politics in Kenya: the Kenyatta and Moi states and the triumph of the system in the 1992 election. Eastern African Studies, Oxford: James Currey; Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers; Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1998, 660 pp., L50.00, ISBN 0 85255 809 0 hardcovers, L19.95, ISBN 0 85255 804 X paperback.
The much awaited Throup and Hornsby volume on Kenyan multi-party politics has finally come out. Those who are familiar with the previous work of the Oxbridgetrained pair will not be disappointed. They have produced an outstanding piece of work, the most detailed single analysis of Kenya's contemporary politics. Yet the book also arouses mixed feelings. However impressive the empirical achievement of the two authors, their volume's theoretical shortcomings considerably undermine its potential scientific influence. Indeed, what could have become a long-lasting reference for all political scientists turns out to be a very useful encyclopaedic volume which is partly spoilt by its neo-developmentalist undertones.
To the credit of the two authors, there are few African countries which have benefited from such an in-depth study or from an attempt to fully understand its experience of political change. In this book Throup and Hornsby provide an unmatched account of the Kenya 1992 electoral process, and they share with the reader their extensive knowledge of the country's diversity. Such an encyclopaedic effort has, of course, its drawbacks. The book is long, very long (like the title itself!): more than 600 pages of text. The reader sometimes wishes the authors had made better use of their footnotes. The comprehensive enumeration of electoral malpractice sometimes weighs heavy in the reading. But it would be unfair to complain about such a wealth of facts, generally of great interest to the students of Kenyan politics. Moreover, a very thorough name index helps to dig out every valuable hidden piece of information. A very useful appendix concludes the volume with details of the party primaries, the full results of the parliamentary and presidential elections (though presented in the most bizarre order!), a list of defections between parties and the results of the post-1992 by-elections.
As is announced in the introduction, the book is `not only an analytical but also an historical record of a key...