Assessing Kenya’s national interests in ratifying and domesticating international treaties, 2002-2013

Abstract

This study examines Kenya’s national interests in ratifying and domesticating international treaties in the period 2002 to 2013. The general objective of the study was to assess Kenya’s national interests defined by her foreign policy, on the treaties ratified in the stated period 2002 to 2013. The specific objectives were to analyze Kenya’s foreign policy, to assess the treaties ratified by Kenya from 2002 to 2013 and to evaluate the challenges and successes experienced by her in implementing these treaties. Using the well-established International Relations theories namely realism and neo-realism, the study examined Kenya’s national interests as defined in her foreign policy document. The mode of doing this research was online desk research for its convenience in saving on time and cutting down on costs. A critical study of the treaties established that the security consideration is the main interest in all of the 55 treaty documents. These 55 treaty documents presented as population elements for the study. This sampling frame was drawn from secondary data using the Kenya National Law Reporting treaties full text database. The main findings show that from 2002 to 2013, Kenya government ratified a total of 55 treaties. Purposive sampling picked the two treaties a) Optional Protocol To The Convention On The Rights Of The Child On The Sale Of Children, Child Prostitution And Child Pornography and b) Trademark Law Treaty; both are about security the former regarding security of local innovations and inventions with industrial capability; the latter being a tool to protect families being the cornerstone of society. The Kenya Foreign Policy document of 2014 clearly stipulates the four pillars of peace, economic, diaspora, environment and cultural diplomacies. The extent to which these have been addressed by the treaties as listed in the annex, may not be determined by a mere glance at the treaties. However, considering the objectives of each, the study concludes that in as much as a treaty is about security, for instance, it also affects economy and diaspora as well. The study revealed a tendency to realism in the country’s ratifying of treaties, exhibition of the reality of world-states concerned primarily with their security and pursuing power as the means to assure the survival of the state. This is in each of the 55 treaties ratified within the stipulated time frame of 2002 to 2013. This study recommends future studies to assess the extent of direct/ indirect international interference in the nation’s affairs resulting from international treaties ratified earlier i.e. before independence, from independence to end of 2001 and from 2013 to date.