Joel D. Barkan

Barkan's central empirical thesis is that all over Africa, a young, educated, and professional class of parliamentarians has begun to advance the power of legislatures, pressuring presidents to accept more democratization.

Kenya's fragile government is threatened by factionalism, economic challenges, and rising crime. To ensure Nairobi's involvement in the war on terrorism, Washington must be sensitive to its domestic needs, recognizing that fledgling democracies can be more difficult to engage than their authoritarian predecessors.