by Luca Virdis and Sara Ceschin 1. Introduction Kenya and Sudan represent two of the most emblematic cases of political and ethnic violence in Africa during the first decade of the 21st century. Although geographically close and both shaped by colonial legacies, the two countries experienced very different trajectories in terms of state stability, governance, and response to internal crises. In Kenya, long considered a model of relative stability in East Africa, the disputed