This article seeks to reveal the primary barriers to fair economic development based on Kenyans’ perceptions of power and globalization. This search was initially sparked by the seeming disinterest of First World scholars to understand the reasons why poor countries benefit so little from the global market as reflected in a subsequent lack of a wide-ranging existing literature about the subject. The literature suggests that global capitalism is dominated by a powerful small elite, the so-called Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC), but how does this relate to Kenya and Africa in general? We know that the TCC has strong connections to financial capital and wealthy transnational corporations. It also pushes neo-liberalism, which becomes the taken-for-granted everyday language and culture that justifies state policies that result in a further class polarization between the rich and poor.

Using Kenya as a case study, this article draws on original qualitative research involving face-to-face interviews with Kenyan residents in different sectors who spoke freely about what they perceive to be Kenya’s place in the world order. My interview results show that, on top of the general lack of economic power in the world order, the main barriers to Africa’s performance are neo-colonial and imperialist practices, poor technology, poor infrastructure, general governance issues, and purchasing power.

本文旨在根据肯尼亚人对权力和全球化的理解，揭示阻碍公平经济发展的主要障碍。最初的搜寻是由第一世界学者似乎不感兴趣，以理解贫穷国家为何从全球市场中获得如此之少的原因所引起的，这反映在随后缺乏有关该主题的广泛现有文献中。文献表明，全球资本主义由强大的小精英，即所谓的跨国资本家阶级（TCC）所统治，但这在总体上与肯尼亚和非洲有什么关系？我们知道，TCC与金融资本和富裕的跨国公司有着紧密的联系。它也推动了新自由主义的发展，新自由主义已成为理所当然的日常语言和文化，它证明了国家政策的合理性，从而导致贫富之间进一步的阶级分化。

本文以肯尼亚为例，借鉴了原始的定性研究，该研究涉及与不同领域的肯尼亚居民面对面的访谈，他们自由地谈论了自己在世界秩序中的地位。我的采访结果表明，除了世界秩序普遍缺乏经济实力外，非洲表现的主要障碍还包括新殖民主义和帝国主义的做法，技术落后，基础设施差，总体治理问题和购买力。