{"id":2148,"date":"2019-02-19T14:35:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T14:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2019-02-19T14:35:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T14:35:07","slug":"why-rwandas-development-model-wouldnt-work-elsewhere-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/?p=2148","title":{"rendered":"Why Rwanda\u2019s development model wouldn\u2019t work elsewhere in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rwanda is often touted as an example of what African states could achieve if only they were better governed. Out of the ashes of a horrific genocide,\u00a0President Paul Kagame<\/a>\u00a0has resuscitated the economy, curtailed corruption and maintained political stability.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a record that many other leaders can only dream of, and has led to Rwanda being cited as an economic success story that the rest of the continent would\u00a0do well to follow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In countries like\u00a0Kenya<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Zimbabwe<\/a>\u00a0some have argued that their leaders should operate more like Kagame. In other words, that job creation and poverty alleviation are more important than free and fair elections.<\/p>\n

In response, critics have sought to puncture Kagame\u2019s image by pointing to\u00a0human rights violations<\/a>\u00a0committed under his leadership. This is an important concern. But the notion that the Rwandan model should be exported also suffers from a more fundamental flaw: it would not work almost anywhere else because the necessary conditions \u2013 political dominance and tight centralised control of patronage networks \u2013 do not apply.<\/p>\n

The Rwandan model<\/h2>\n

Many of the achievements of Kagame and his governing\u00a0Rwandan Patriotic Front<\/a>\u00a0party are impressive. He took over a deeply divided nation in desperate need of economic and political reconstruction in 1994. Since then, Kagame has established firm personal control over Rwandan politics, generating the political stability needed for economic renewal.<\/p>\n

Instead of sitting back and waiting for foreign investors and the \u201cmarket\u201d to inspire growth, the new administration intervened directly in a process of state directed development. Most notably, his government kick started economic activity in areas that had previously been stagnating by investing heavily in key sectors. It has done so through party-owned holding companies such as\u00a0Tri-Star Investments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Combined with the careful management of agriculture, these policies generated\u00a0economic growth of around 8%<\/a>\u00a0between 2001 and 2013. Partly as a result, the percentage of people living below the poverty line fell from 57% in 2005 to\u00a045% in 2010<\/a>. Other indicators of human development, such as\u00a0life expectancy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0literacy<\/a>, have also improved.<\/p>\n

An example for Africa?<\/h2>\n

Despite the impressive headline figures, a number of criticisms have been levelled at the Rwandan model.<\/p>\n

Most obviously, it sacrifices basic human rights \u2013 such as\u00a0freedom of expression and freedom of association<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to sustain the ruling party\u2019s political hegemony. The Rwandan system therefore involves compromising democracy for the sake of development. That decision may be an easy one to make for those who enjoy political power, but is often rejected by the opposition.<\/p>\n

Less obviously, the use of party-owned enterprises to kick start business activity places the ruling party at the heart of the economy. It also means that when the economy does well, the already dominant Rwandan Patriotic Front is strengthened. This empowers Kagame to determine who is allowed to\u00a0accumulate economic power<\/a>, which in turn undermines the ability of opposition leaders and critics to raise funds.<\/p>\n

These arguments have been around for some time. But they have done little to dampen the allure of the Rwandan model for some\u00a0commentators<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0leaders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given this, the strongest argument against exporting the Rwandan model is not that it is undemocratic and gives the ruling party tremendous economic power. It\u2019s that it won\u2019t actually work.<\/p>\n

Read more on The Conversation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda is often touted as an example of what African states could achieve if only they were better governed. Out of the ashes of a horrific genocide,\u00a0President Paul Kagame\u00a0has resuscitated the economy, curtailed corruption and maintained political stability. This is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[58,292,530],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-africa","tag-development","tag-rwanda"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2149,"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions\/2149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francophone.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}