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Outputs (16)

Reflections on state response to GenZ protests (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Wairuri, K. (2024, September). Reflections on state response to GenZ protests. Presented at Amilisha Dialogues Program on non-violent action and state counteraction.Demonstration to Transformation: Amilisha Dialogues on non-violent action and state counteraction, Nairobi

Kenyan police use excessive force because they’re serving political elites, not the public – policy analyst (2024)
Digital Artefact
Wairuri, K. (2024). Kenyan police use excessive force because they’re serving political elites, not the public – policy analyst. [Blog post]

Public protests in Kenya have often been criminalised, leading to brutal police crackdowns. This played out in recent protests against the cost of living in Kenya, and amid an attempt by the government to introduce new taxes. The police responded wit... Read More about Kenyan police use excessive force because they’re serving political elites, not the public – policy analyst.

“We know that he is gay, but how do we prove it?”: Police officer perspectives on the policing of queer people in Kenya (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Wairuri, K. (2024, February). “We know that he is gay, but how do we prove it?”: Police officer perspectives on the policing of queer people in Kenya. Presented at Crime, Justice & Society Seminar Series, Edinburgh

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory field study to examine the perspectives and attitudes of police officers in Kenya towards queer people and their policing. The study finds that police officers hold differing and divergent views on q... Read More about “We know that he is gay, but how do we prove it?”: Police officer perspectives on the policing of queer people in Kenya.

Everyday Abolition: The politics and practice of police futures in Kenya and South Africa (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Wairuri, K., & Cooper-Knock, S. J. (2023, May). Everyday Abolition: The politics and practice of police futures in Kenya and South Africa. Paper presented at European Conference on African Studies ECAS2023, University of Cologne, Germany

Police abolition is a dual project: On the one hand, abolitionists argue that the police as an institution cannot be rescued through reform because it is inherently flawed. On the other hand, they believe that another, better world is possible: a wor... Read More about Everyday Abolition: The politics and practice of police futures in Kenya and South Africa.

Book Review: Power, Politics and the Law by Githu Muigai (2022)
Digital Artefact
Wairuri, K. (2022). Book Review: Power, Politics and the Law by Githu Muigai. [https://www.theelephant.info/long-reads/2022/11/14/book-review-power-politics-and-the-law-by-githu-muigai/]

Prof Githu Muigai book, whose full title is Power, Politics and Law: Dynamics of constitutional change in Kenya, 1887- 2022 delves into the history of constitutional change from the colonial era to the present day, and will be found helpful by those... Read More about Book Review: Power, Politics and the Law by Githu Muigai.

Serving the regime: The state police and Kenya's electoral authoritarianism (2022)
Book Chapter
Wairuri, K. (2022). Serving the regime: The state police and Kenya's electoral authoritarianism. In J.-N. Bach (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of the Horn of Africa (354-366). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429426957-34

This chapter seeks to understand the designation of Kenya as a competitive authoritarian state through an examination of the use of the state police to, as it were, police politics. The use of state security apparatuses to enhance the capacity of the... Read More about Serving the regime: The state police and Kenya's electoral authoritarianism.

‘Thieves Should not Live Amongst People’: Under-Protection and Popular Support for Police Violence in Nairobi (2022)
Journal Article
Wairuri, K. (2022). ‘Thieves Should not Live Amongst People’: Under-Protection and Popular Support for Police Violence in Nairobi. African affairs; journal of the Royal African Society, 121(482), 61-79. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adac006

This paper examines how communities at the urban margins, who are under-protected by the state police, understand police reforms through an examination of the unusual case of street protests in support of a police officer who had killed two young men... Read More about ‘Thieves Should not Live Amongst People’: Under-Protection and Popular Support for Police Violence in Nairobi.