Paper short abstract:

This paper argues that the state effectively mobilized state power after electoral violence in Nakuru, Kenya to make and enforce cash transfers targeting decisions down to the local level, but that the impacts for strengthening citizen-state relations were limited due to incomplete program coverage.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how variations in political power shape the distribution of cash transfers in areas of post-electoral violence in Nakuru, Kenya. Drawing on 40 interviews with civil servants and community leaders, 16 focus group discussions with beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, and community mapping conducted across two sub-counties in Nakuru, this paper argues that the central state, in the wake of post-electoral violence, has effectively mobilized state power to make and enforce targeting decisions down to the village level to mitigate ethnic tensions and strengthen citizen-state relations. The paper further argues that the success of such localized distribution in strengthening citizen-state relations is limited due to incomplete program coverage which undermines citizens' rights to social assistance. These findings are brought into conversation with other research published on cash transfers and citizenship across Kenya. In doing so, it highlights how citizen-state relations are shaped by program coverage, infrastructural power, and political power.