Running into Fame and Wealth: The Role of Sports in Kenya’s Foreign Relations. Asia and Africa Today.

Abstract

This article provides an international relations perspective of the role of sport as a potential factor in Kenya's foreign relations in post-colonial Kenya. It notes that while sports events and sportspersons can serve important political functions, their actual diplomatic values depended on what the political 'arena' saw fit in utilizing sport as a means of furthering "higher" diplomatic interests. In other words, sport is only independent in as much as it has no significant bearing on political affairs. When foreign policy and diplomacy is used as an instrument to coerce, sport become useful and is co-opted by politics. In contemporary Kenya, sporting activities in the Olympics and other major world sporting events have created an image of a big power Nation. The country constantly produces world class sportsmen and women and this is manifested in the rising number of sportspersons breaking world records and the scramble by a number of states to grant citizenship to Kenyan athletes and recruitment into the coaching opportunities that are availed by the sporting world. Sports have become a major diplomatic and foreign policy tool in advancing inter-state relations and many a times used to express state's stand on global issues. This article firstly outlines the nature of sport and lists instances in which Kenya's sporting prowess has manifested itself since the 1960's; secondly, it relates Kenya's sporting achievements to her foreign relations. Thirdly, it evaluates the extent to which sport have created famous and wealthy sportsmen and Women in Kenya and globally. Finally, the article draws conclusions from these sporting relations that might shed some light on the nature of Kenya's sporting relations generally