Reassessing Economic Dependency and Uneven Development: The Kenyan Experience

Abstract

Over the past decade, students of development have conducted a substantial number of quantitative cross-national studies. On balance, these studies provide support for some portions of the dependency/world-system theory, showing a negative relationship between foreign capital penetration and both economic growth and equality. However, case studies indicate that the dependency perspective should not be generalized across countries. Individual countries have unique circumstances that govern the level and type of economic dependency affecting them. This paper uses time-series analysis to test the validity of dependency arguments in post-independence Kenya. The results suggest that Kenya is experiencing a transition from classical dependency to dependent development. This process is characterized by an increase in foreign investment in manufacturing, prompting economic expansion in the modern sectors of the country. Such uneven development tends to enrich elites associated with foreign capital.