A Critical Analysis of Counterterrorism Responses: A Study of Kenya and Al-Shabaab (1998-2017)

The study looked into counterterrorism responses in Kenya from 1998 to 2017 and their implications. The main purpose of the study was to find out whether efforts made by the Kenyan government are geared towards positively impacting Kenya’s national security in the long-term. The study analysed terror related attacks and government responses in the selected period. The study looked into the use of force and repression as government’s responses to terrorism. First, the study took on a systematic approach from a global to regional and finally narrowed down to Kenya’s responses. The study highlighted how al-Shabaab comes into play in the counterterrorism campaign. Kenya has in the past been described as a terrorist hot bed with a spate of attacks coming in at different time intervals. The nation has tightened its grip on security and patterns of attacks have changed the country’s counterterrorism strategies. The study found out that the use of repression has been a prolonged response embedded in the fabric of Kenya’s counterterrorism strategy, as evidenced from the first religious terrorist attack in 1998; military force might have come in later but Kenya’s reliance on repressive measures are wrapped around its strategies, whether in the use of intelligence or financial control or in the use of military force, the element of coercion is overbearing in its mixed approach strategies and it is impacting and impeding its overall goal of upholding long-term national security goals and preventing future attacks as revealed by the study. At the end, the study provided recommendations on long-term measures aimed at ensuring longevity in its national security architecture.