Comparing the evolution and governance of intelligence in East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania from the second half of the twentieth century onwards

In Africa, colonial history, postcolonial development, and regime changes marked the evolution of intelligence services. This article examines comparatively how intelligence governance developed in Kenya and Tanzania since the 1950s and is currently outlined after the passage of new legislation under multiparty democracy adopted in the early-1990s. It uses path dependence, new institutionalism, and institutional change perspectives to unravel processes involved, identifying events, actors, and outcomes. Research questions pertain to legacies, intelligence and politics, power reproduction, crises, critical junctures, foreign influence and partnerships, intelligence collection and technology, and legislation. Findings relate to the autocratic intelligence governance observed in both cases. This study contributes to the field of intelligence studies.