Before the establishment of the East Africa Protectorate, present day Kenya was a conglomeration of over forty different ethnic groups with distinct cultural value systems, and no semblance of statehood. The encroachment of European settlement in the late 1800s and subsequent colonization led to the development of a state that acted as a tribute-taker and then later as an organizing agency for extractive colonial enterprise. Even after independence, the instruments of political socialization were not sufficiently employed to promote the transformation of Kenya into one nation. Instead, the promotion of tribal interest was paramount leading to political intolerance in a bid to protect vested interests, and later, to protect a de-jure one–party system. The state was perceived as a source of largesse and welfare support for political clientele leading to an increasing dependency syndrome and a declining sense of personal responsibility. Consequently, the country experienced a variety of economic, political and governance challenges.
The government undertook a number of remedial measures, including the development and adoption of Vision 2030, with varying degrees of success. The unfortunate circumstances which culminated in the post-election violence of late 2007 and early 2008 resulted in the reversal of some of the gains earlier realized through the implementation of the reform initiatives. Indeed, the subsequent National Dialogue and Reconciliation Agreement recognized that poverty, the inequitable distribution of resources, and exclusion on the part of segments of the Kenyan society constituted the underlying causes of social tensions, instability and cycle of violence. After the Reconciliation Agreement, a constitutional review process led to the promulgation of a new Constitution in August, 2010.