102-627: The Kenya Forest Service is an agency of the Government of Kenya designated by the Forest Act of 2005 as the replacement for the old Forest Department. It is overseen by the Board of the Kenya Forest Service. The former Forest Department was supported almost entirely from forest revenues, and was, as a result, chronically underfunded. Under the 2005 Forest Act this has changed somewhat, with for example,
204-546: A liberal - conservative divide, or around religious disputes. The spread of the party model of politics was accelerated by the 1848 Revolutions around Europe. The strength of political parties in the United States waned during the Era of Good Feelings , but shifted and strengthened again by the second half of the 19th century. This was not the only country in which the strength of political parties had substantially increased by
306-456: A party chair , who may be different people from the party leader. These executive organizations may serve to constrain the party leader, especially if that leader is an autocrat. It is common for political parties to conduct major leadership decisions, like selecting a party executive and setting their policy goals, during regular party conferences . Much as party leaders who are not in power are usually at least nominally competing to become
408-463: A single-member district electoral system tend to have very few parties, whereas countries that use proportional representation tend to have more. The number of parties in a country can also be accurately estimated based on the magnitude of a country's electoral districts and the number of seats in its legislature. An informative way to classify the party systems of the world is by how many parties they include. Because some party systems include
510-416: A candidate in one electoral district has an incentive to assist a similar candidate in a different district. Thus, political parties can be mechanisms for preventing candidates with similar goals from acting to each other's detriment when campaigning or governing. This might help explain the ubiquity of parties: if a group of candidates form a party and are harming each other less, they may perform better over
612-526: A candidate to victory in an election. Some scholars argue that the first modern political parties developed in early modern Britain in the 17th century, after the Exclusion Crisis and the Glorious Revolution . The Whig faction originally organized itself around support for Protestant constitutional monarchy as opposed to absolute rule , whereas the conservative Tory faction (originally
714-403: A community of party members. Parties in democracies usually select their party leadership in ways that are more open and competitive than parties in autocracies, where the selection of a new party leader is likely to be tightly controlled. In countries with large sub-national regions, particularly federalist countries, there may be regional party leaders and regional party members in addition to
816-532: A country with multiple competitive parties is not necessarily democratic, and the politics of many autocratic countries are organized around one dominant political party. The ubiquity and strength of political parties in nearly every modern country has led researchers to remark that the existence of political parties is almost a law of politics, and to ask why parties appear to be such an essential part of modern states. Political scientists have therefore come up with several explanations for why political parties are
918-595: A deeper connection to the electorate. The idea of people forming large groups or factions to advocate for their shared interests is ancient. Plato mentions the political factions of Classical Athens in the Republic , and Aristotle discusses the tendency of different types of government to produce factions in the Politics . Certain ancient disputes were also factional, like the Nika riots between two chariot racing factions at
1020-413: A democracy will often affiliate with a specific political party. Party membership may include paying dues, an agreement not to affiliate with multiple parties at the same time, and sometimes a statement of agreement with the party's policies and platform. In democratic countries, members of political parties often are allowed to participate in elections to choose the party leadership. Party members may form
1122-451: A democracy. There have been periods of government exclusively or entirely by one party in some countries that are often considered to have been democratic, and which had no official legal barriers to the inclusion of other parties in the government; this includes recent periods in Botswana , Japan , Mexico , Senegal , and South Africa . It can also occur that one political party dominates
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#17328560206591224-426: A large membership base. Further, mass parties prioritize the mobilization of voters and are more centralized than elite parties. The term "catch-all party" was developed by German-American political scientist Otto Kirchheimer to describe the parties that developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of changes within the mass parties. The term "big tent party" may be used interchangeably. Kirchheimer characterized
1326-485: A large number of parties that have a very low probability of winning elections, it is often useful to think about the effective number of parties (the number of parties weighted by the strength of those parties) rather than the literal number of registered parties. In a non-partisan system, no political parties exist, or political parties are not a major part of the political system. There are very few countries without political parties . In some non-partisan countries,
1428-401: A large number of political parties around the world, not all political parties have an organizing ideology, or exist to promote ideological policies. For example, some political parties may be clientelistic or patronage -based organizations, which are largely concerned with distributing goods. Other political parties may be created as tools for the advancement of an individual politician. It
1530-491: A major upheaval in their politics and have not yet returned to a stable system of political parties. For example, the United States began as a non-partisan democracy, and it evolved a stable system of political parties over the course of many decades. A country's party system may also dissolve and take time to re-form, leaving a period of minimal or no party system, such as in Peru following the regime of Alberto Fujimori . However, it
1632-399: A nearly universal political phenomenon. One of the core explanations for the existence of political parties is that they arise from pre-existing divisions among people: society is divided in a certain way, and a party is formed to organize that division into the electoral competition. By the 1950s, economists and political scientists had shown that party organizations could take advantage of
1734-511: A number of countries, particularly longstanding European democracies. Political scientists have distinguished between different types of political parties that have evolved throughout history. These include elite parties, mass parties, catch-all parties and cartel parties. Elite parties were political elites that were concerned with contesting elections and restricted the influence of outsiders, who were only required to assist in election campaigns. Mass parties tried to recruit new members who were
1836-417: A phenonmenon observable among European Green parties during their transformation from radical environmentalist movements to mainstream centre-left parties. An Entrepreneurial party is a political party that is centered on a political entrepreneur , and dedicated to the advancement of that person or their policies. While some definitions of political parties state that a party is an organization that advances
1938-863: A realistic chance of competing to form government. One current example of a two-party system is the United States , where the national government has for much of the country's history exclusively been controlled by either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party . Other examples of countries which have had long periods of two-party dominance include Colombia , Uruguay , Malta , and Ghana . Two-party systems are not limited to democracies; they may be present in authoritarian regimes as well. Competition between two parties has occurred in historical autocratic regimes in countries including Brazil and Venezuela . A democracy's political institutions can shape
2040-412: A single best policy choice without some institution constraining their options. Another prominent explanation for why political parties exist is psychological: parties may be necessary for many individuals to participate in politics because they provide a massively simplifying heuristic , which allows people to make informed choices with much less mental effort than if voters had to consciously evaluate
2142-548: A smaller group can be a feature of party leadership transitions in more autocratic countries, where the existence of political parties may be severely constrained to only one legal political party, or only one competitive party. Some of these parties, like the Chinese Communist Party , have rigid methods for selecting the next party leader, which involves selection by other party members. A small number of single-party states have hereditary succession, where party leadership
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#17328560206592244-405: A source of party income and were often expected to spread party ideology as well as assist in elections. In the United States, where both major parties were elite parties, the introduction of primaries and other reforms has transformed them so that power is held by activists who compete over influence and nomination of candidates. An elite party is a type of political party that was dominant in
2346-479: A specific set of ideological or policy goals, many political parties are not primarily motivated by ideology or policy, and instead exist to advance the career of a specific political entrepreneur . Political ideologies are one of the major organizing features of political parties, and parties often officially align themselves with specific ideologies. Parties adopt ideologies for a number of reasons. Ideological affiliations for political parties send signals about
2448-460: A sub-national region of a democratic country that has a competitive national party system; one example is the southern United States during much of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the Democratic Party had almost complete control, with the Southern states being functionally one-party regimes, though opposition parties were never prohibited. In several countries, there are only two parties that have
2550-470: A very large portion of society and it can play substantial roles in civil society that are not necessarily directly related to political governance; one example of this is the Chinese Communist Party . Bans on competing parties can also ensure that only one party can ever realistically hold power, even without completely outlawing all other political parties. For example, in North Korea , more than one party
2652-617: A way that does not conform to the dominant economic left-right divide in politics, in turn emphasising issues that do not attain prominence within the other parties. Further, niche parties do not respond to changes in public opinion to the extent that mainstream parties do. Examples of niche parties include Green parties and extreme nationalist parties, such as the National Rally in France. However, over time these parties may grow in size and shed some of their niche qualities as they become larger,
2754-521: Is also common, in countries with important social cleavages along ethnic or racial lines, to represent the interests of one ethnic group or another. This may involve a non-ideological attachment to the interests of that group, or may be a commitment based on an ideology like identity politics . While any of these types of parties may be ideological, there are political parties that do not have any organizing ideology. Political parties are ubiquitous across both democratic and autocratic countries, and there
2856-423: Is also possible – albeit rare – for countries with no bans on political parties, and which have not experienced a major disruption, to nevertheless have no political parties: there are a small number of pacific island democracies, such as Palau , where political parties are permitted to exist and yet parties are not an important part of national politics. In a one-party system , power
2958-405: Is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections . It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics , and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country, as modern party organizations developed and spread around the world over
3060-510: Is common for democratic elections to feature competitions between liberal , conservative , and socialist parties; other common ideologies of very large political parties include communism , populism , nationalism , and Islamism . Political parties in different countries will often adopt similar colours and symbols to identify themselves with a particular ideology. However, many political parties have no ideological affiliation, and may instead be primarily engaged in patronage , clientelism ,
3162-769: Is directly elected and thereafter becomes the highest elected official in the county. Each county has its own County Assembly with MCAs ( Members of the County Assembly ) as representatives. The powers of the County are provided in Articles 191 and 192, and in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya and the County Governments Act of 2012. Functions and duties not assigned by the Constitution automatically become
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3264-565: Is held entirely by one political party. When only one political party exists, it may be the result of a ban on the formation of any competing political parties, which is a common feature in authoritarian states. For example, the Communist Party of Cuba is the only permitted political party in Cuba , and is the only party that can hold seats in the legislature. When only one powerful party is legally permitted to exist, its membership can grow to contain
3366-407: Is inherited by the child of an outgoing party leader. Autocratic parties use more restrictive selection methods to avoid having major shifts in the regime as a result of successions. In both democratic and non-democratic countries, the party leader is often the foremost member of a larger party leadership. A party executive will commonly include administrative positions, like a party secretary and
3468-592: Is known as the Parliament of Kenya , and is established under Chapter Eight of the Constitution. It is bicameral , comprising the National Assembly and the Senate . The Legislature is primarily mandated with legislation within the country and is organised as follows: The National Assembly is made up of 349 elected members (known as Member of Parliament or MP), consisting of 290 members elected from constituencies within
3570-408: Is largely insignificant as parties use the resources of the state to maintain their position within the political system. Niche parties are a type of political party that developed on the basis of the emergence of new cleavages and issues in politics, such as immigration and the environment. In contrast to mainstream or catch-all parties, niche parties articulate an often limited set of interests in
3672-521: Is officially permitted to exist and even to seat members in the legislature, but laws ensure that the Workers' Party of Korea retains control. It is also possible for countries with free elections to have only one party that holds power. These cases are sometimes called dominant-party systems or particracies . Scholars have debated whether or not a country that has never experienced a transfer of power from one party to another can nevertheless be considered
3774-399: Is often very little change in which political parties have a chance of holding power in a country from one election to the next. This makes it possible to think about the political parties in a country as collectively forming one of the country's central political institutions , called a party system. Some basic features of a party system are the number of parties and what sorts of parties are
3876-442: Is reduced as catch-all parties are financed in part by the state or by donations. In Europe, the shift of Christian Democratic parties that were organized around religion into broader centre-right parties epitomizes this type. Cartel parties are a type of political party that emerged post-1970s and are characterized by heavy state financing and the diminished role of ideology as an organizing principle. The cartel party thesis
3978-577: Is run by the Ministries of Kenya. The constitution limits the number of Ministries to a minimum of 14 and maximum of 22. The headings of the ministries are known as Cabinet Secretaries who are all nominated by the President. The President has power to assign and dismiss a Cabinet Secretary. A Cabinet Secretary cannot be an MP and their deputies are known as Principal Secretaries. All civil servants e.g. teachers in public schools or diplomats fall under one of
4080-432: Is the ideology that is most closely connected to the history of democracies and is often considered to be the dominant or default ideology of governing parties in much of the contemporary world. Many of the traditional competitors to liberal parties are conservative parties. Socialist, communist, feminist, anarchist, fascist, and nationalist parties are more recent developments, largely entering political competitions only in
4182-625: The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party . By the early 19th century, a number of countries had developed stable modern party systems. The party system that developed in Sweden has been called the world's first party system, on the basis that previous party systems were not fully stable or institutionalized. In many European countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France, political parties organized around
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4284-633: The Hippodrome of Constantinople . A few instances of recorded political groups or factions in history included the late Roman Republic's Populares and Optimates factions as well as the Dutch Republic's Orangists and the Staatsgezinde . However, modern political parties are considered to have emerged around the end of the 18th century; they are usually considered to have first appeared in Europe and
4386-559: The Judiciary . Each arm is independent of the other and their individual roles are set by the Constitution of Kenya while their powers and duties are further defined by acts of Parliament . The full name of the country is the "Republic of Kenya". Its official Swahili name is "Jamhuri ya Kenya". No other names appear in the Constitution, and these are the names that appear on the country's currency , in treaties, and in legal cases to which
4488-577: The National Assembly and the Senate . The state allows universal suffrage based on the aspiration for fair representation and equality. The only people not allowed to vote are people convicted of an election offence during the preceding five years. Elections in Kenya are overseen by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission . The Counties of Kenya have devolved functions of the former central government. Each county has its own Governor who
4590-576: The President of Kenya . The president is both the country's head of state (performing ceremonial functions) and the head of government (the chief executive). The President is the head of state and government, as in most republics. The President is also the Commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defence Forces . The President is the head of the country's Cabinet, which consists of the President,
4692-564: The Royalist or Cavalier faction of the English Civil War ) supported a strong monarchy, and these two groups structured disputes in the politics of the United Kingdom throughout the 18th century The Rockingham Whigs have been identified as the first modern political party, because they retained a coherent party label and motivating principles even while out of power. At the end of
4794-417: The 19th and 20th centuries. Environmentalism, multiculturalism, and certain types of fundamentalism became prominent towards the end of the 20th century. Parties can sometimes be organized according to their ideology using an economic left–right political spectrum . However, a simple left-right economic axis does not fully capture the variation in party ideologies. Other common axes that are used to compare
4896-519: The Constitution or by an act of Parliament and is nominated by a political party , or is an independent candidate. All members are elected or nominated, including the Speaker, who is elected from persons qualified to be elected as members of Parliament but are not members. In contrast, the Senate is made up of 47 Senators representing each of the 47 counties, 16 women nominated by political parties according to
4998-423: The County Assembly, made up of elected Members of the County Assembly (MCA) as per the number of wards within the county and nominated members. The county assembly is responsible for legislation at the county level in furtherance of the counties' functions and powers as stated in the Constitution. The executive branch is established by Chapter Nine of the Constitution, which vests the country's executive authority in
5100-595: The Deputy President, the Attorney-General and Cabinet Secretaries nominated and appointed by the President with the approval of the National Assembly. The National Assembly with at least a third of all the members, may set in motion an act to impeach the President. The National Assembly may do so on the grounds of gross violation of the Constitution or any other law, where there is reasons to believing that
5202-509: The National governments responsibility. As opposed to other devolved governments around the world, only the national government may impose income tax, value-added tax, customs duties and other duties on import and export goods and excise tax. The counties are individually allowed to impose property rates, entertainment taxes and any other tax that it is authorised to impose by an Act of Parliament. Political party A political party
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#17328560206595304-402: The President has committed a crime under national or international law or for gross misconduct. If the motion to impeach passes in the National Assembly the act to impeach moves to the Senate and if at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate vote to uphold any impeachment charge, the President shall cease to hold office. The Deputy President is the second-highest executive office in
5406-618: The Republic of Kenya (GoK) is the national government of the Republic of Kenya located in East Africa . It is composed of 47 Counties , each county with its own semi-autonomous governments, including the national capital of Nairobi , where the national government is primarily based. The national government is composed of three distinct branches: The Legislature (Parliament), the Executive and
5508-552: The United States of America, with the United Kingdom's Conservative Party and the Democratic Party of the United States both frequently called the world's "oldest continuous political party". Before the development of mass political parties, elections typically featured a much lower level of competition, had small enough polities that direct decision-making was feasible, and held elections that were dominated by individual networks or cliques that could independently propel
5610-408: The advancement of a specific political entrepreneur , or be a " big tent ", in that they wish to attract voters who have a variety of positions on issues. Political parties are collective entities and activities that organize competitions for political offices. The members of a political party contest elections under a shared label. In a narrow definition, a political party can be thought of as just
5712-405: The base of the volunteer activists and donors who support political parties during campaigns. The extent of participation in party organizations can be affected by a country's political institutions, with certain electoral systems and party systems encouraging higher party membership. Since at least the 1980s, membership in large traditional party organizations has been steadily declining across
5814-420: The central government delegated power through devolution since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1963 until the country held a referendum in 2010 to amend the Constitution, among which amendments was the devolving of certain powers and duties of the national government to the semi-autonomous governments of the newly created counties. The country was initially led by a Prime Minister , but upon
5916-467: The century, the United States also developed a party system, called the First Party System . Although the framers of the 1787 United States Constitution did not all anticipate that American political disputes would be primarily organized around political parties, political controversies in the early 1790s over the extent of federal government powers saw the emergence of two proto-political parties :
6018-438: The claim that parties emerge from existing cleavages, or arguing that the claim is not empirically testable. Others note that while social cleavages might cause political parties to exist, this obscures the opposite effect: that political parties also cause changes in the underlying social cleavages. A further objection is that, if the explanation for where parties come from is that they emerge from existing social cleavages, then
6120-424: The cognitive burden for people to cast informed votes. However, some evidence suggests that over the last several decades, the strength of party identification has been weakening, so this may be a less important function for parties to provide than it was in the past. Political parties are often structured in similar ways across countries. They typically feature a single party leader, a group of party executives, and
6222-406: The counties, 47 women elected at county-level, 12 nominated representatives and the Speaker, who is an ex-officio member. Each of the 290 members represents the constituency from where they were elected. The members of Parliament serve five-year terms.. In order to be elected as a member of the National Assembly, an individual must be registered as a voter, satisfies any requirements prescribed by
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#17328560206596324-531: The country becoming a full republic in 1964, the Prime Minister's title was changed to President of Kenya. The current structure of government allows power to be held on two levels: The national level and the county level. The country is a representative democracy legislatively, and a direct democracy in the election of its president, who is leader of the Executive branch of government. The Legislative branch
6426-689: The creation of special funds such as the Water Towers Conservation Fund, a portion of which goes to forest rehabilitation, and the Mau Rehabilitation Trust Fund, for the Mau Forest . As of 2003, Kenya had 1.57 million hectares of gazetted forest. Source: Among the responsibilities of the Kenya Forest Service are to: The Kenya Forest Service has begun issuing management plans for individual forests. Plans are in effect for: Government of Kenya The Government of
6528-760: The currently established courts. All Judges, including the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice, are selected by the Judicial Service Commission Archived 13 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine but are officially appointed by the President. However, the persons selected to be the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice must first be vetted by Parliament before being appointed by the President. All other Judges do not need Parliamentary vetting and approval. Magistrates who preside over
6630-575: The distribution of voters' preferences over political issues, adjusting themselves in response to what voters believe in order to become more competitive. Beginning in the 1960s, academics began identifying the social cleavages in different countries that might have given rise to specific parties, such as religious cleavages in specific countries that may have produced religious parties there. The theory that parties are produced by social cleavages has drawn several criticisms. Some authors have challenged it on empirical grounds, either finding no evidence for
6732-413: The divisions between lower and upper classes , and they streamline the process of making political decisions by encouraging their members to cooperate. Political parties usually include a party leader, who has primary responsibility for the activities of the party; party executives, who may select the leader and who perform administrative and organizational tasks; and party members, who may volunteer to help
6834-490: The end of the century; for example, around this time the Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell implemented several methods and structures like party discipline that would come to be associated with strong grassroots political parties. At the beginning of the 20th century in Europe, the liberal–conservative divide that characterized most party systems was disrupted by the emergence of socialist parties, which attracted
6936-411: The entire party, and some voters decide how to vote in elections partly based on how much they like the leaders of the different parties. The number of people involved in choosing party leaders varies widely across parties and across countries. On one extreme, party leaders might be selected from the entire electorate; on the opposite extreme, they might be selected by just one individual. Selection by
7038-418: The fact that a party is focused on electing candidates, whereas a parliamentary group is a group of political parties, a political faction is a subgroup within a political party, and an advocacy group is focused on advancing a policy agenda. This is related to other features that sometimes distinguish parties from other political organizations, including a larger membership, greater stability over time, and
7140-769: The first political party in Uganda, and its name was chosen as an homage to the Indian National Congress. As broader suffrage rights and eventually universal suffrage slowly spread throughout democracies, political parties expanded dramatically, and only then did a vision develop of political parties as intermediaries between the full public and the government. Political parties are a nearly ubiquitous feature of modern countries. Nearly all democratic countries have strong political parties, and many political scientists consider countries with fewer than two parties to necessarily be autocratic . However, these sources allow that
7242-662: The formation of parties is explicitly banned by law. The existence of political parties may be banned in autocratic countries in order to prevent a turnover in power. For example, in Saudi Arabia , a ban on political parties has been used as a tool for protecting the monarchy. However, parties are also banned in some polities that have long democratic histories, usually in local or regional elections of countries that have strong national party systems. Political parties may also temporarily cease to exist in countries that have either only been established recently, or that have experienced
7344-410: The gradual limitation of the democratic system. Kenyatta died in 1978; his vice President Moi took over and in 1982 the country was officially made a one-party state with every other party being outlawed. This was met by resistance over the next decade or so. In 1992 Kenya's first multiparty elections were held. Ever since then elections have been held every 5 years. In 2013 the general election paved
7446-413: The group of candidates who run for office under a party label. In a broader definition, political parties are the entire apparatus that supports the election of a group of candidates, including voters and volunteers who identify with a particular political party, the official party organizations that support the election of that party's candidates, and legislators in the government who are affiliated with
7548-560: The head of government, the entire party executive may be competing for various positions in the government. For example, in Westminster systems , the largest party that is out of power will form the Official Opposition in parliament, and select a shadow cabinet which (among other functions) provides a signal about which members of the party would hold which positions in the government if the party were to win an election. Citizens in
7650-464: The head of government. In both presidential democracies and parliamentary democracies , the members of a party frequently have substantial input into the selection of party leaders, for example by voting on party leadership at a party conference . Because the leader of a major party is a powerful and visible person, many party leaders are well-known career politicians. Party leaders can be sufficiently prominent that they affect voters' perceptions of
7752-835: The higher courts and are presided over by Judges. These are the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court which hears almost every type of case., the Environment and Land Court and the Industrial Court. The subordinate courts consist of the Magistrates courts, the Kadhi courts, the Courts Martial and any other court or local tribunal as may be established by an Act of Parliament, other than
7854-464: The ideologies of political parties include ranges from liberal to authoritarian, from pro-establishment to anti-establishment , and from tolerant and pluralistic (in their behavior while participating in the political arena) to anti-system. Party positions for individual political parties are assessed by different published indices, such as the V-Party Dataset . Though ideologies are central to
7956-518: The introduction of universal suffrage resulted in the creation of worker's parties that later evolved into mass parties; an example is the German Social Democratic Party . These parties represented large groups of citizens who had not previously been represented in political processes, articulating the interests of different groups in society. In contrast to elite parties, mass parties are funded by their members, and rely on and maintain
8058-568: The last few centuries. Although some countries have no political parties , this is extremely rare. Most countries have several parties while others only have one . Parties are important in the politics of autocracies as well as democracies , though usually democracies have more political parties than autocracies. Autocracies often have a single party that governs the country, and some political scientists consider competition between two or more parties to be an essential part of democracy. Parties can develop from existing divisions in society, like
8160-404: The long run than unaffiliated politicians , so politicians with party affiliations will out-compete politicians without parties. Parties can also align their member's incentives when those members are in a legislature. The existence of a party apparatus can help coalitions of electors to agree on ideal policy choices, whereas a legislature of unaffiliated members might never be able to agree on
8262-448: The merits of every candidate individually. Without political parties, electors would have to individually evaluate every candidate in every election. Parties enable electors to make judgments about just a few groups, and then apply their judgment of the party to its entire slate of candidates. Because it is much easier to become informed about a few parties' platforms than the positions of a multitude of independent candidates, parties reduce
8364-549: The ministries in the Cabinet. The Judiciary is charged with applying and upholding the law. This is done through a legal system consisting of courts. The Judiciary is led by the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice sits at the Supreme Court whose court decisions are binding to all courts. The current Chief Justice is Chief Justice Martha Koome who is the fifteenth person to hold the office. The courts are divided into two levels: Superior Courts and Subordinate Courts. Superior Courts are
8466-440: The most successful. These properties are closely connected to other major features of the country's politics, such as how democratic it is, what sorts of restrictions its laws impose on political parties, and what type of electoral systems it uses. Even in countries where the number of political parties is not officially constrained by law, political institutions affect how many parties are viable. For example, democracies that use
8568-404: The nation is a party. Other terms such as "GoK", "GK" and "Serikali" are often used officially and informally to distinguish the national government from the county governments. The Government's structure consists of power shared between the national government and the county governments. It is a unitary state with a decentralised system as per the new Constitution of Kenya 2010 . Originally
8670-432: The national government while the Senate mainly deals with legislation concerning counties as well as exercising oversight over the county governments. However, both Houses' approval is required in any matter so determined by an act of Parliament, such as presidential appointments to the Executive and Judiciary, military officers and ambassadors. The 47 counties also have a legislative branch within their governments known as
8772-432: The national membership and leadership. Parties are typically led by a party leader , who serves as the main representative of the party and often has primary responsibility for overseeing the party's policies and strategies. The leader of the party that controls the government usually becomes the head of government , such as the president or prime minister , and the leaders of other parties explicitly compete to become
8874-434: The nineteenth century before the introduction of universal suffrage. The French political scientist Maurice Duverger first distinguished between elite and "mass" parties, founding his distinction on the differences within the organisational structures of these two types. Elite parties are characterized by minimal and loose organisation, and are financed by fewer larger monetary contributions typically originating from outside
8976-453: The number of parties that it has. In the 1950s Maurice Duverger observed that single-member district single-vote plurality-rule elections tend to produce two-party systems, and this phenomenon came to be known as Duverger's law . Whether or not this pattern is true has been heavily debated over the last several decades. Some political scientists have broadened this idea to argue that more restrictive political institutions (of which first past
9078-426: The parties' proportions in the Senate, one man and woman to represent the youth, one man and women to represent persons with disabilities, and the Speaker, who is also an ex-officio member like the National Assembly's Speaker. The National Assembly and Senate each have particular powers. The National Assembly mainly deals with legislation affecting the country at the national level as well as exercising oversight over
9180-420: The party, donate money to it, and vote for its candidates. There are many different ways in which political parties can be structured and interact with the electorate. The contributions that citizens give to political parties are often regulated by law, and parties will sometimes govern in a way that favours the people who donate time and money to them. Many political parties are motivated by ideological goals. It
9282-443: The party. In many countries, the notion of a political party is defined in law, and governments may specify requirements for an organization to legally qualify as a political party. Political parties are distinguished from other political groups or clubs, such as parliamentary groups, because only presidents have control over the political foundations of the party and also they include political factions, or advocacy groups, mostly by
9384-547: The party. Elite parties give little priority to expanding the party's membership base, and its leaders are its only members. The earliest political parties, such as the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists , are classified as elite parties. A mass party is a type of political party that developed around cleavages in society and mobilized the ordinary citizens or 'masses' in the political process. In Europe,
9486-586: The policies of Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. The formation of the Indian National Congress , which developed in the late 19th century as a pro-independence faction in British India and immediately became a major political party after Indian independence, foreshadowed the dynamic in many newly independent countries; for example, the Uganda National Congress was a pro-independence party and
9588-463: The position twice on separate occasions. The Deputy President's functions are to be the main assistant to the President and shall deputise for the President in the execution of the President's functions. He must be qualified to become president in order to take the office as he is first in line in the order of presidential succession. The Deputy President as the president is limited to two terms in office. The coat of arms of Kenya The Government
9690-583: The republic. The position before the 2013 general election was known as the Vice-President of Kenya. There have been 12 deputy presidents since independence. The incumbent is Abraham Kithure Kindiki who as William Ruto is part of the Kenya Kwanza . The first person to hold the position was Jaramogi Oginga Odinga . The 8th person to hold the office, Michael Kijana Wamalwa was the first and only person to pass away while in office. George Saitoti has held
9792-403: The shift from the traditional mass parties to catch-all parties as a set of developments including the "drastic reduction of the party's ideological baggage" and the "downgrading of the role of the individual party member". By broadening their central ideologies into more open-ended ones, catch-all parties seek to secure the support of a wider section of the population. Further, the role of members
9894-484: The subordinate courts are selected and appointed by the Judicial Service Commission without the involvement of the President or Parliament. Elections in Kenya that predate 1992 were not multiparty elections. On independence, Kenya voted for Kenyatta as President. However, over the next few years Kenya slowly transitioned from being a democracy to being a one-party state. Kenyatta's regime greatly oversaw
9996-447: The support of organized trade unions . During the wave of decolonization in the mid-20th century, many newly sovereign countries outside of Europe and North America developed party systems that often emerged from their movements for independence. For example, a system of political parties arose out of factions in the Indian independence movement , and was strengthened and stabilized by
10098-422: The theory is an incomplete story of where political parties come from unless it also explains the origins of these social cleavages. An alternative explanation for why parties are ubiquitous across the world is that the formation of parties provides compatible incentives for candidates and legislators. For example, the existence of political parties might coordinate candidates across geographic districts, so that
10200-589: The types of policies they might pursue if they were in power. Ideologies also differentiate parties from one another, so that voters can select the party that advances the policies that they most prefer. A party may also seek to advance an ideology by convincing voters to adopt its belief system. Common ideologies that can form a central part of the identity of a political party include liberalism , conservatism , socialism , communism , anarchism , fascism , feminism , environmentalism , nationalism , fundamentalism , Islamism , and multiculturalism . Liberalism
10302-463: The way for semi-autonomy of the 47 counties of Kenya. Uhuru Kenyatta , the fourth president won and his coalition the Jubilee Alliance controlled the majority in both houses of Parliament , i.e. the National Assembly and the Senate . The incumbent president William Ruto won the 2022 general elections and his coalition Kenya Kwanza now controls the majority in both houses of Parliament, i.e.
10404-419: Was developed by Richard Katz and Peter Mair , who wrote that political parties have turned into "semi-state agencies", acting on behalf of the state rather than groups in society. The term 'cartel' refers to the way in which prominent parties in government make it difficult for new parties to enter, as such forming a cartel of established parties. As with catch-all parties, the role of members in cartel parties
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