Dickson Ombaka

Education and Democratisation in Kenya: the Political Socialization of Undergraduate University Students Dickson Ombaka

It is now a commonplace that the education system plays a significant role in shaping the political attitudes and orientations of citizens towards the political system. This book attempts to answer the question of how well the education system is preparing Kenyan youth for democratic participation. Observation of university students' behaviour over the years provides at best only an equivocal answer to this question and the need to explain this ambiguity constitutes the problem for this study. The explanation is sought through analysis of the political attitudes and orientations of undergraduate students in universities in Kenya. The answer to this question, whatever it may be, has far reaching consequences with regard to the role of the education system in political socialization and the prospects of successful democratisation of Kenya's politics. Scholars and students who are interested in political socialization, education and the process of democratisation will not doubt find the analysis illuminating.