肯尼亚族群身份建构及其政治化

Building and Politicization of Ethnic Identity in Kenya

族群在很多非洲国家的政治和经济生活中都扮演着重要角色,其中肯尼亚是族群身份最深入人心的国家之一。与很多非洲国家相同,族群身份在肯尼亚的产生与殖民统治息息相关。然而,族群身份的建构不仅是殖民历史所造成的,也是肯尼亚人对变化的政治环境产生反应的结果。独立早期肯尼亚政治精英对族群身份的操纵和利用,造成了排他性族群认同的强化以及族群身份的政治化。民主化之后,族群身份的政治化不仅体现在政党联盟建设层面,还体现在普通民众层面,族群身份是影响投票决定的最重要因素。2010年宪法改革重塑了肯尼亚政治权力结构,促使政党结成更广泛的多族群联盟,在未来选举中仅依据族群身份将难以预测选举结果。然而,新宪法并没有彻底改变族群身份政治化在肯尼亚政治中的显著影响。如何建构一个多族群一体化的国家仍然是肯尼亚在未来政治改革进程中所面临的重要挑战。

The ethnic group plays an important role in the political economy of many African countries,and Kenya is one of the countries where ethnic identities are most salient.Similar to many African countries,the emergence of ethnic identity in Kenya is closely related to colonial rule.However,the construction of ethnic identity is not only caused by colonial history but also the result of Kenyan responses to the changing political environments.In the early period of independence,the manipulation and use of ethnic identity by political elites resulted in the strengthening of exclusive ethnic identity and the politicization of ethnic identity.After democratization,the politicization of ethnic identity was not only reflected in the alliance-building of political parties,but also in general people.Ethnic identity remains the most important factor affecting the voting decisions of Kenyan people.The 2010 constitutional reforms reshaped Kenya’s political power structure and promoted political parties to form a broader multi-ethnic alliance.It will be difficult to predict the results based on ethnic identity alone in future elections.However,it is undeniable that the promulgation of the new constitution has not completely changed the significant influence of the politicization of ethnic identity in Kenyan politics.How to build a multi-ethnic integrated country is still an important challenge that Kenya will face in the future process of nation-building and political reform.