Foreign Policy and the Threat of Global Terrorism: Kenya�s Military Intervention in Somalia

Abstract

Global terrorism is the single most serious security challenge to nations in contemporary international relations. In November 2011, the Government of Kenya invoked article 51 of the United Nations Charter in the wake of AlShabaab terror attacks in its territory, and for the first time since independence, engaged its military in combat in a foreign territory- Somalia. The engagement of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) in Somalia places Kenya among the rank of nations that engage their militaries abroad in the global war against terrorism. This paper examines the dynamics of Kenya’s foreign policy in the light of the intervention. In it, this writer argues that Kenya’s military intervention represents the status quo foreign policy which emphasize on the protection of its sovereignty as well as to safeguard regional stability. It however represents a shift in the way the country had been conducting its foreign policy previously whenever its sovereignty and territorial integrity were under threat.