Country Profile Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Country Profile - Research Paper Example Kenya is a country situated in the eastern coast of Africa and lies on the equator. The country hares borders with five countries; Tanzania lies to the South, Uganda lies to the West, South Sudan to the North-West, Ethiopia lies to the North part of Kenya while Somalia lies to the North-Eastern side of the country. (Pateman, 28). The Republic of Kenya has a total land area of 582,684 square km. (224,960 square miles) this is nearly the same size as Texas. The country got its name from Mount Kenya, which is quite a significant landmark and is the second highest mountain peak in Africa. The capital city of Kenya is Nairobi which is also the largest city in the Eastern Africa region. HISTORY The history of Kenya can be evidently be traced in the late 1800s when the Kenya-Uganda railways was being constructed by the British. Before then, the country was under the Protectorate of Sultan of Zanzibar who handed over the country to the Germans. The Germans later handed over the country to Im perial British East Africa which was in charge of constructing the railways going through the two countries (from Kenya to Uganda). Later on after the First World War and the completing of the Kenya-Uganda railways most of the British and European settlers in the early 20th century chose to settle in the country especially the central highlands this was in order for them to practice farming and grow coffee and tea. This in did not go down well with the locals as they felt their lands had been grabbed by the colonialists who had forbidden them from cultivating their lands by imposing huge taxes soon their houses and farming. The natives later started a resistance and they called the resistance Mau Mau Rebellion. From the October of 1952 to December 1959 the country was under the state of emergency and the Mau Mau fighters were engaged in guerrilla war against British rule. The capture of key Mau Mau fighters led to the war ending and thereafter the first direct elections for the Afri cans in the Legislative Council was held in the 1957 and in December 12th 1963 Kenya gained independence from Britain and also formed their first constitution on the same day. (YouTube) and (Pateman). One year later on 12th December 1964 Kenya was declared a republic. The first president of the country was Jomo Kenyatta who was the president until his untimely death in 1978. Daniel Arap Moi took over the country from 1978 until 2002 when a new political revolution led by the current president Mwai Kibaki won the election took over. In 2007 there was a massive ethnic unrest and political violence after different political parties accused the current president of rigging the election, this led to approximately more than 1000 people being killed and more than 60,000 displaced in the ethnic violence that was the aftermath of the flawed election. President Mwai Kibaki is expected to hand over the presidency in 2013. STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT Kenya is a democratic republic in the sense that the president is both the head of state and also he is the head of the government. The country has also a multi party system of politics. After the 2007 ethnic clashes caused by the elections, there has been constitutional amendments that enabled the sharing of the executive powers between the two political rivals in the government that is the President and the Prime Minister. The executive power is mainly exercised by the

Hobbes and Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hobbes and Morality - Essay Example 13, p. 84). The conditions that Hobbes outlined and feared in the state of nature had profound implications for his conceptualization of morality and what defined an individual as an equal to his or her fellow human being both in terms of morality and in rational self-interest. The overriding principle in the state of nature is that man is inherently and perpetually condemned to a fate where his life is subject to a violent and brutish death or injury at the hands of others. Hobbes first defined man as being relatively equal in faculties to one another, in physical and mental abilities, and when there are such advantages of one holds over another in either physical strength or intellectual prowess, the threat of harm is always prevalent, so that any such advantages or disadvantages are not considerable enough to negate such threats of harm. Even if there is a more skilled warrior in the area, he or she is still subject to a violent death insomuch that others could band together to nullify such a threat (Leviathan, ch. 13, p. 82). It is because of this equal threat is how Hobbes is then able to define what his terms of morality are in the state of nature. With an individual existing in the state of nature that is conditionally the state of war with every man against every man, and life al... An individual has the moral authority to kill, maim or otherwise thwart another individual should they be deemed a threat to one's life and being. This also had prolific implications for actions themselves. One's actions to preserve their own well being are either amoral, or completely void of being judged right or wrong, or that such actions are morally defensible because the ultimate value and aim is that one's life ought to be defended at all costs and through any and all means disposable. Hobbes directly wrote, "to this war of every man against every man...is also consequent that nothing can be unjust," (Leviathan, ch. 13, 85). The social contract and civil government Hobbes declared removed man from the state of nature and perpetual warfare into a civil society where the governing authority is charged with the responsibility of the preservation of domestic peace. In exchange for this protection of life, the subjects in this civil society must sacrifice their absolute freedom as they held in the state of nature in order to ensure that the war of every man against every man no longer exists. Hobbes directly argued that "a man be willing, when others are tooto lay down his rights to all things, and would be contented with so much liberty against other men as he would allow other men against himself," (Leviathan, ch. 14, p. 87). The civil society is a voluntary contract where all citizens agree to what they are to compromise in terms of absolute freedom in order to have the right of life protected under a rule of law. Individuals are also equal in this respect that they rationally enter into such a social cont ract voluntarily and willing compromise whatever natural freedoms