Analysis of one of the most influential and powerful student movements in all of sub-Saharan Africa and its impact on transition in the postcolonial state.


During the late-1980s, waves of protest challenged authoritarian regimes across postcolonial Africa,
on a scale rarely seen since the end of colonial rule decades earlier. In Kenya, as elsewhere on the continent, university students were leading actors in struggles for democratic change. Rallying under the cry of 'Comrade Power!', the student movement at the University of Nairobi emerged as one of the most formidable and militant of its kind in all of Africa, with Nairobi serving as a crucible for generations of nationally prominent political activists.

This vivid account traces the rise and fall of this student movement, showing how it shaped national processes of political change, where its power came from, how it was wielded, and why it dissipated so rapidly from the mid-1990s. Drawing on interviews with student activists, government officials and politicians, it offers new insights into the politics of transition in postcolonial Africa.