Publication

This report zeros in on how political elites – and the ‘rules’ that govern prevailing political systems – transform ambitious reform plans into limited realities. To illustrate this phenomenon, the text’s authors focus on the 2008 National Accord and Reconciliation Agreement (NARA) and its “imagined” reforms of the Kenyan police forces. The hoped-for changes haven’t fully materialized, but the attempt to implement them has shed light on the complex processes by which national elites try to respond to, manage and control needed transformations.