The Role of Defense Diplomacy in Enhancing National Security: A Case Study of Kenya (2012-2022)

Defence diplomacy has increasingly become an important avenue of engagement across countries. It aims at enhancing diplomatic capacity of a country. Kenya, since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1963 has been engaged in defence diplomacy within the larger Eastern Africa region and beyond. With intensifying security uncertainty in the Horn of Africa, necessitating Kenya to consider increasing her defence diplomacy activities in addition to increasing her military expenditure on equipment and personnel inorder to address emerging security threats. This study is interested in establishing the role defence diplomacy has played in thwarting threats to Kenya’s national security. How, for instance is Kenya courting new partners in military diplomacy and trade. This paper also provides the structure of the proposed study that focuses on Kenya’s defence diplomacy approach within the Eastern Africa region and beyond. In the quest of unbundling the defence diplomacy phenomena, the following research questions were considered: In what ways has Kenya’s defense diplomacy promoted security in the East Africa region? Are there requisite policy and legal frameworks that guides the conduct of defence diplomacy? What future challenges can Kenya anticipate in its defense diplomacy processes?