Revolution in Kenya

Abstract

To look at revolution as an isolated, discrete, historical accident is unrewarding in that we have no promise for the future discovery and prevention of such social chaos. However, if it is possible to discern pattern in revolution, if, in short, we can distinguish a phenomenon such as "revolutionary change" which can be understood in terms of certain signals -- measurable units of probability which augur ill for the future viability of a political system, then we have fulfilled a valuable service to society. . . . The argument underlying the paper is that the revolution which rocked Kenya in 1952 was avoidable; despite the fact that this statement is meaningless (in the sense that avoidability becomes speculation after the fact), nevertheless post facto examination of this revolt may illuminate the methods of future conceptual analysis which will break the way for the elimination of revolution as a means of solving political problems. It should be stated at the outset that inadequacies in research method brought about both by the scope of the paper and the distance between Virginia and Kenya make all analysis heuristic and tentative -- more historical than scientific -- and further research must be done to determine the precise measurements of the indices of potential revolutionary fervor. [From introductory section]