Leiden University Student Repository

Bojovic, Nevena (2018)

The Paradox of Displacement: Internally Displaced Persons and Ethnic Conflict in Kenyan Elections 2007

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

This thesis looks at the theories behind internal migration and their application to instances of internal displacement. It looks sepcifically at the case of the Kenyan electoral violence in 2007 and early 2008 and the ways in which internally displaced persons (IDPs) were affected. To determine such effects, the thesis observes Kenya's history with the interaction between ethnicity and politics and considers how the population is mobilised based on ethnic affiliations. It analyses how specific push and pull factors for displacement fall into several theories of migration causes, while simultaneously considering the roles of both the domestic and international community and their responses to the crisis. It argues throughout how the disadvantage of IDPs is maintained through the discourse on internal displacement. In identifying the effects on IDPs as belonging to the realm of politics, culture, and economics, the thesis identifies long-standing factors such as ethnicity and land...Show moreThis thesis looks at the theories behind internal migration and their application to instances of internal displacement. It looks sepcifically at the case of the Kenyan electoral violence in 2007 and early 2008 and the ways in which internally displaced persons (IDPs) were affected. To determine such effects, the thesis observes Kenya's history with the interaction between ethnicity and politics and considers how the population is mobilised based on ethnic affiliations. It analyses how specific push and pull factors for displacement fall into several theories of migration causes, while simultaneously considering the roles of both the domestic and international community and their responses to the crisis. It argues throughout how the disadvantage of IDPs is maintained through the discourse on internal displacement. In identifying the effects on IDPs as belonging to the realm of politics, culture, and economics, the thesis identifies long-standing factors such as ethnicity and land grievances as well as economic wellbeing and the discourse of displacement as the main effects on IDPs.Show less

Elections

Internal displacement

Theories of migration

Humanitarian intervention

Ethnicity in conflict

Author

Bojovic, Nevena

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Wal-Remy, A.M. van der

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en