Conflict, Fear, and Mistrust in Kenya’s 'White Highlands'

Abstract

Land policy was a key channel for clientelist redistribution in African states during the 20th century. During this period, Kenya's Rift Valley was twice transformed by land policies: first by the colonial era `White Highlands', and later by independence era `Settlement Schemes'. Meanwhile, in recent times Kenya has periodically seen civil conflict along ethnic lines, with links drawn to historical land issues. I test these links by examining for the long-run effects of exposure to historical land policies on conflict, fear, and mistrust. I find that in the White Highlands trust in neighbors is lower and fear of election-related violence is higher, while in the Settlement Schemes trust in both neighbors and relatives is higher and support for political violence is lower. My results are supported by analysis decomposing estimates by distance from the White Highlands and are robust to various sample adjustments. Based on these results, I suggest that the long-run effects of exposure to the White Highlands and Settlement Settles differ, and these differentials are driven by the respective histories of land allocation in each area.

Keywords: Kenya, Land reform, Social attitudes, Conflict, Fear, Mistrust, Africa, Development, Political Economy

JEL Classification: P11, P14, Q15