EDUCATION AS A FOREIGN POLICY TOOL: Kenyan Students’ Airlifts to Russia and Eastern Europe, 1954—1991

Abstract

T he book sought to identify the genesis and historical development of student airlifts to the USSR and Eastern Europe, investigate the role of education as a foreign policy tool, and examine the impact of the cold war on students’ scholarships to the USSR and Eastern Europe. Following the end of the World War II in 1945, the world order was dominated by the Cold War mindset. The USSR and USA started engaging in the de- colonization of colonial states in general and Africa states in particular. Both USSR and USA started supporting trade unions, political parties and strategized on to influence the Third World as education became a very useful tool. The politics and economies of de-colonization were engaged through and within the Cold War lenses and self-interest. The West rolled out the Marshall Plan of Action in Europe and extended the same to the Third World through foreign aid. The book “Education as a Foreign Policy Tool: Kenyan Students’ Airlift to Russia and Eastern Europe, 1954—1991 argues that much of a country’s foreign policy and national interest can be understood in the context of the country’s relations with other states. Traditionally, international relations are a matter of interchanges among states. States oversee and promote bilateral and multilateral negotiations in the field of peace and security, trade and other economic relations and cultural relations. Foreign policy begins when a state manages to transcend the dichotomy of internal and external pressures and develops multiple strategies of responding to world challenges. The book thus contributes to the understanding on how educational scholarships were impacted by both the internal and external environment of the Cold War. The book focuses on Kenyan students’ airlifts to the USSR and Eastern Europe from 1954 to 1991. The year 1954 marked Nikita Khrushchev’s policies of de-Stalinization and peaceful co-existence with other nations. T he book sought to identify the genesis and historical development of student airlifts to the USSR and Eastern Europe, investigate the role of education as a foreign policy tool, and examine the impact of the cold war on students’ scholarships to the USSR and Eastern Europe. Following the end of the World War II in 1945, the world order was dominated by the Cold War mindset. The USSR and USA started engaging in the de- colonization of colonial states in general and Africa states in particular. Both USSR and USA started supporting trade unions, political parties and strategized on to influence the Third World as education became a very useful tool. The politics and economies of de-colonization were engaged through and within the Cold War lenses and self-interest. The West rolled out the Marshall Plan of Action in Europe and extended the same to the Third World through foreign aid. The book “Education as a Foreign Policy Tool: Kenyan Students’ Airlift to Russia and Eastern Europe, 1954—1991 argues that much of a country’s foreign policy and national interest can be understood in the context of the country’s relations with other states. Traditionally, international relations are a matter of interchanges among states. States oversee and promote bilateral and multilateral negotiations in the field of peace and security, trade and other economic relations and cultural relations. Foreign policy begins when a state manages to transcend the dichotomy of internal and external pressures and develops multiple strategies of responding to world challenges. The book thus contributes to the understanding on how educational scholarships were impacted by both the internal and external environment of the Cold War. The book focuses on Kenyan students’ airlifts to the USSR and Eastern Europe from 1954 to 1991. The year 1954 marked Nikita Khrushchev’s policies of de-Stalinization and peaceful co-existence with other nations.This book, therefore, explains more elaborately about Kenya- USSR and Eastern Europe’s cultural diplomacy which is still an under-explored area. The book will benefit policy makers on how educational scholarships could be made a better foreign policy tool in diplomacy. This being a case study will contribute to the understanding of Kenya – Russia and Eastern European student airlifts and how it influenced the bilateral relations of these countries. It will generate data and information that will be useful to students of international relations, scholars and policy makers as it will also recommend ways and means by which these states relations in particular and Kenya’s foreign relations globally can be conducted. Furthermore, analyses of the airlifts demonstrate how foreign institutions can be utilized to acquire various skills needed for national development and how students and scholarships can be useful in enhancing bilateral relations.