Marketplace Liberia - Amazon Web Servicesmediafiles.sagamoreinstitute.org.s3.amazonaws.com/... · A new generation of leaders is emerg-ing in Africa. These new policy makers, activists,

Africa Is Rising

An African Model of Development: Rwanda

Reflections: Lessons From History

Marketplace Liberia

Marketplace: LiberiaVol. 1, No. 1

Jay F. HeinManaging Director

Donald L. Cassell, Jr.Editor, Senior Fellow

Wesley CateManaging Editor, Research Fellow

Beverly SaddlerProduction Designer

Marketplace: Liberia is published by ISOKO Institute. www.isoko-institute.org. Copyright © 2012, ISOKO Institute, Inc.

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Table of Contents

4 Editor’s Note 5 Africa Is Rising 9 An African Model of Development: Rwanda25 Reflections: Lessons From History

4 Marketplace: Liberia

Editor’s Note Marketplace: Liberia is a newsletter published by ISOKO Institute headquartered in Kigali Rwanda. ISOKO Institute is an African research policy institute, more commonly known as a think tank, with affiliates in the United States. The think tank was launched in 2011to promote entrepreneurship and private enterprise as a way to build strong societies across Africa. Its primary research themes include: entrepreneurship as a means to deliver significant economic, social and spiritual impact for the better; the rise of Africa as a frontier market with the poten-tial to become a major global market, and the role of government in creating an environment for private initiatives (social and business, for-profit and non-profit) to flourish and grow.

Four times a year, the newsletter will publish feature articles on the role of the private sector in national development, governance, leadership and philanthropy. It will seek to explore and en-courage cross fertilization in these areas within the developing world and the developing world in partnerships with the U.S. and other parts of the developed world. Our approach will be to employ commonsense and first principles in addressing the problems of national development. We want to be a force for good, builders of ruins places, people and things. We seek to con-tribute meaningfully to Africa’s rise and Liberia’s healing, restoration and reconstruction. We want to help build and expand the knowledge base and fill the capacity gap for the nurturing of a society where men and women can flourish and grow to their full potential. It has been said that the think tank is a university without students and that the university is where we seek to understand and consider the meaning of human knowledge and life: we hope to be these things in our service to Liberia particularly and Africa in general.

This maiden issue features an article on Africa’s rise economically, socially and politically. It highlights the development of a new and expanding middle class in Africa, the rise of new trading partners from Asia in China and India particularly, the improvement in leadership and governance, the overall cessation of violent conflict on the continent and the near exponential growth and expansion of modern technology amongst the African people. The article tempers the celebratory rise of Africa with a reality check base on the many formidable obstacles that threatens to undo her progress. Liberia’s place in Africa’s rise will also be reviewed. A longer and more in-depth version of this article was published recently in the Liberian Studies Journal.

The article on Rwanda as an African model of development highlights the impressive devel-opment accomplishments of the country, the discipline and character of her leadership, her approach to governance and capacity building, her efficient state structures, and her wise and deliberative engagement with international partners. For context and greater appreciation of how far Rwanda has come, the country’s history and background are considered.

Finally there will be some reflections on the book Lessons from History by two eminent Ameri-can historians, Will and Ariel Durant. The Durants deal with many themes such freedom and order, the place of markets in human communities, the role of human agency in the ordering of society, character and morals, the dignity of the human person, the importance of leadership, the role of religion and science in human society and the meaning of progress. These are all gleanings from their life time study of human history and society.

Signed,

Donald L. Cassell, Jr.Senior Fellow, ISOKO Institute

5www.isoko-institute.org

Africa Is RisingBy Donald L. Cassell, Jr., Senior Fellow, Isoko Institute

Africa is emerging from a long period of decline, but there is yet much work to be done and a large space for cau-tious optimism.

This narrative begins in the euphoria of Independent Africa in the 1960s. All was so hopeful then. But by the 1970s Africa had begun a tailspin into decline and collapse. It was a race to the bottom. Most of Africa was bankrupt, greatly burdened by large budget deficits, running double-digit inflation, facing a growing debt burden, enduring thriving black markets, suf-fering shortages in basic commodities, experiencing rising poverty, disease and ignorance, economic mismanage-ment, an excessive state presence in the economy, capital flight and stagnation. This was an era characterized by mis-rule and error. It was a period drenched in blood and marked by great loss and sorrow. There were assassinations, coup d’états, wars, rumors of wars, civ-il conflicts, acts of astonishing violence and brutality, ridiculous dictators, state failure and society collapse. Leadership was characterized by intimidation, vio-lence and brute force. It is lamentable to even record those evil days.

The horrific genocide in Rwanda may be considered as bringing that period to a close. By the late 1980s and early 1990s things began to change for the better in Africa. The Cold War ended and many of the cruel dictators lost their legitimacy and no longer pos-sessed the wherewithal to implement their wretched policies. Yoweri Musev-ni’s rise to power in Uganda also marks

a turning point in this sad history. He and Uganda are illustrative of Africa’s change from misrule and chaos to order and good governance. There were other indicators such as the rise of Jerry Rawlings in Ghana. Since then, Africa has embarked upon a period of steady improvement in government and society. A number of governments have since begun to adhere to basic political and civil rights, built stronger political institutions and improved governance. Admittedly, there is much work yet to be done, but there are genuine reasons to be encouraged and hopeful.A new generation of leaders is emerg-ing in Africa. These new policy makers, activists, and business leaders have brought a new global experience, outlook and ideas to their responsibili-ties. Still, there is need for caution as the failures of the past could arguably be attributed to the educated elite, many of whom also had international experience. The new generation may be benefiting from better ideas. The failure of the past has been painfully instruc-tive. In many ways leadership has been at the center of Africa’s problems, so it is not surprising that leadership is at the center of its recovery. But this begs the question: from whence did these leaders emerge? The new generation is more critical of past policies that re-sulted in disgrace, decadence and loss. It is impatient with loss and stagnation. It is developing a better appreciation for the complexities of statecraft and perhaps a more critical appreciation of the virtues of African culture. Since the mid-1990s, Africa has experienced the advantages of quietness and stabil-ity. Increased political stability has


led to greater economic prosperity. Now many governments are pursu-ing more sensible economic policies. Governments have tried to live within their means. They have reduced their economic role in the state and culti-vated friendlier business environments by lowering trade and investment barriers and improving the regulatory space. Indeed some of the most ambi-tious ones, like Rwanda, have used the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey to benchmark their performance in cor-ruption levels, strength of legal rights, time required for enforcing contracts and tax rates as a percent of profit.

Twenty-eight percent of sub-Saharan African countries have achieved growth at or above 6 percent with sixty percent achieving growth rates at or above 4 percent. Overall, Africa’s collective GDP in 2008 was $1.6 tril-lion and is projected to increase to $ 2.6 trillion in 2020 (”Africa’s Pulse”). There has been a 50 percent increase in average income since the mid-1990s. According to the African Development Bank, the African middle class has expanded by 60 percent. This rather robust growth has not abated even in the face of the recent great worldwide economic recession.

Africa has expanded its development portfolio beyond the resource extrac-tion industries. Natural resources are still of utmost importance to Africa, but now there are other industries that hold real value for investors as well. Opportunities may be had in Africa’s growing consumer market with a population of a billion people, 313 million of which qualify as middle class. These are figures comparable to

China and India. Consumer spending in 2009 was at $860 billion and has been projected to increase to $1.4 trillion by 2020 (“Growing In Africa” 4). This new middle class is in need of banking, financial and consumer products. At the moment the growth in this consumer market is limited by scarce infrastruc-ture.

Africa has benefited considerably from new technology in the form of the mo-bile phones and a growing access to the Internet. With 600 million mobile sub-scribers, Africa is second only to China as the fastest growing telecommunica-tions market in the world (“Africa’s Hopeful Economies”). Africa is also experiencing a boom in the banking sector. The American Citigroup has ex-panded its presence into twelve African countries while China has purchased a 20 percent stake in one of South Af-rica’s biggest bank, Standard Chartered (“Africa’s Banking Boom”).

Africa is less and less dependent on official foreign aid channels. More and more of its financing comes from new private sources in the form of remit-tances, private philanthropy, foreign direct investment and short term capital - amounting roughly to $90 billion (“Regional Economic Outlook” 27). But even for official aid channels, Afri-can countries have found alternatives in China and India as new bilateral part-ners. Africa has also benefited from a global commodity boom and the rise of Asia, particularly the reemergence of China and India. Though, South Korea as a developed nation has had a growing interest in Africa. Western Europe remains a major trading partner in Africa in most other areas.


Liberia is a microcosm of the trans-formation taking place in Africa. She has suffered the loss and indignities of grotesque misrule and errors, and now participates in a process of restoration, healing, and hope. Liberia is progress-ing towards recovery and reconstruc-tion. She is following many of the posi-tive trends that are transforming Africa. There is a national movement towards more accountable government, better financial management, better overall understanding of policy and its impli-cations and implementation. Protection of civil liberties and political freedom has been strengthened. The Polity IV Project, which gives governance scores based on measures such as qualities of executive recruitment, constraints on executive authority, and political competition, has noted a significant improvement in Liberia’s governance. The more comprehensive Ibrahim Index of African Governance has also rated Liberia well. In fact, Liberia was one of those nations that the index saw as having made the most striking improvements in all of its categories on governance from 2006 to 2010: Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development. A new generation of leaders has begun to emerge in an environment mostly free of violent political conflict, thanks to the international community which has provided for Liberia’s security.

Liberia is making progress towards cre-ating a more business friendly environ-ment. While still behind the average for Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rank-ings, Liberia is ahead of neighboring countries and has made a number of re-

forms that are moving it in the right di-rection. It was ranked amongst the top 10 most improved nations in the world. Since 2005, Liberia has also seen a dramatic increase in the inflows of for-eign direct investment and government revenue. The Liberian economy has grown yearly by 7 percent (Johnson-Sirleaf “Emerging Africa” 3). The net inflow of FDI in 2010 was $453 mil-lion (“World Development”), and since 2005 total inflows have reached $16 billion (Johnson-Sirleaf “Channeling Oil”). By some measures the Liberian economy is exploding (“Growing In Africa”). Government revenue has increased by 445 percent since 2005 (World Economic Outlook, 2012). While the U.S. remains Liberia’s most important source of public funding, China and other emerging countries are playing increasingly significant roles in developing Liberia’s economy. This may all be to Liberia’s advantage.

Despite all these positive economic trends, moving forward will require prudent skepticism amidst the celebra-tion. After all, the development of a country or a region is contingent on the development of its people. The 19 century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said in his poem “A Nation’s Strength” that,

“Not gold but only men can makeA people great and strong;Men who for truth and honor’s sakeStand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,Who dare while others fly...They build a nation’s pillars deepAnd lift them to the sky.”

No economy or institution thrives with-


out people. It is generally acknowl-edged that in today’s markets knowl-edge is wealth and power. This may have always been true. Knowledge is humanity’s singular advantage in na-ture. Investors have the opportunity of investing in people through education and skills training. Presently, there is a huge capacity gap, and much invest-ment is still needed in these areas.

While these changes in Africa are heartening and hopeful, even spiritual – the Christian Church has grown and expanded greatly - yet all is not well. Africa is still not for the faint of heart. The continent’s turnaround remains fragile. Poverty, hunger, and disease are still problems in many African countries, as are corruption and politi-cal instability. Africa is still threatened by poor government policies, wars and violence. Liberia is ranked 47th out of 53 nations for the category of Safety and Rule of Law according to the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The unresolved issue of national unity in Liberia still presents an enduring internal threat to Liberia’s national se-curity. Yet, it is the consensus amongst knowledgeable people that Africa’s turnaround has been established upon sound policy changes in governance and so should have staying power. No one has yet considered seriously the consequence of the expansion and growth of the Christian Church for these encouraging changes in Africa. Looking forward, much improvement is still needed in infrastructure, the legal and regulatory environments, and human capital. Significantly, there is still no spectacular regional role model, though to date, Rwanda comes close. For the foreseeable future, Africa will

still need the support of the interna-tional community.

Sources:“Africa’s Banking Boom: Scrambled in Africa.” The Economist. 16 September 2010. Web.

“Africa’s Hopeful Economies: The Sun Shines Bright.” The Economist. 3 Decem-ber 2011. Web.

Africa’s Pulse: An Analysis of Issues Shap-ing Africa’s Economic Future. World Bank April 2010. Web.

Growing In Africa: Capturing the Oppor-tunity for Global Consumer Products Busi-nesses. Ernst & Young. 2011.Web.

Johnson-Sirleaf, Ellen. “Channeling Oil for Sustainable Peace, Energy, Security and Prosperity in Liberia.” Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Houston, TX. 20 April 2012. Guest Lecturer.

Johnson-Sirleaf, Ellen. Introduction. Emerg-ing Africa: How 17 Countries Are Lead-ing the Way by Steven Radelet, Baltimore: Brookings Institute Press. 2010. Print.

World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance. World Bank. 2012.

World Economic Outlook Database. Inter-national Monetary Fund. 17 April 2012. Web.

Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa Recover and New Risks. International Monetary Fund. Print

Lions on the move: The progress and poten-tial of African economies. McKinsey Global Institute. June 2010.Web


An African Model of Development: RwandaBy Donald L. Cassell, Jr., Senior Fellow, Isoko Institute,With contributions from Kate Camara, Research Assistant, Isoko Institute

“Man, not the earth, makes civiliza-tion. The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionists are phi-losophers and saints.” - Will and Ariel Durant, Lessons From History

On DevelopmentIt was said a long time ago, that a man shall not live by bread alone. That is, given the nature of humanity, the needs of men and women are not met only in their material wants. For men and women to flourish, it is necessary that they have more then what meets their material needs. Aristotle said that “wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking: for it is merely useful for the sake of something else.” After years of focus, in international development circles, on things and infrastructure, it is becoming clear that people, and their capacities, should take pride of place in the development project. Aristotle un-derstood this fact many years ago when he said “that in household management the people are of greater importance than the material property, and their quality of more account than that of the goods that make up their wealth.” An adequate conception of development must go beyond the mere accumulation of wealth, the growth of gross national product, the rise in personal incomes, industrialization, technological advance or even social modernization (Sen 3). Development ought to enhance the lives of people and be focused on their well-being, livelihood, capability, equity and sustainability. Simply put, econom-

ic growth is not an end in itself.Of course, economic growth and wealth accumulation are very im-portant nevertheless. For surely man does live by bread, though not only by bread. Economic growth and wealth accumulation, rather, are means to the end of full human flourishing. Eco-nomic growth and wealth creation by themselves do not constitute the whole of human flourishing. It is becoming clear that human resource development was significant and strategic to much of Asia’s rise and reemergence in the contemporary world (Sen 41). There is actually nothing new about this idea. It is an idea as old as humanity itself. People are very important. Certainly, people are more important than things (Meyers 96).

To do development it is essential that a clear purpose be defined and estab-lished on what development is, and why development should be done. There needs to be a development philosophy so that the development enterprise might proceed with focus and direc-tion. Amartya Sen, a great contemporary thinker from India, proposed that we consider freedom as the defining purpose in international development. In Sen’s hand, this concept of freedom is not recklessly handled, as is too often the case in much of the modern world, where freedom looks like a kind of moral free fall, anarchic, vacuous and lawless. Freedom here may be posi-tively understood as part and parcel of order and form, constitutive of being itself necessary to human flourishing in


the world spiritually, intellectually and materially. It has been said that in the grand scheme of things, there are three things of perennial consideration to all of human knowledge and life. These things are God, the immortality of the human soul and the meaning of human freedom. The profundity of Sen’s thesis may be appreciated in this light. It is a rich and textured concept. From this vantage point, the celebration of human freedom does not close the door on statecraft and leadership, and will not recklessly deny the equally important place of community life, of which the individual in her freedom is always in a creative dynamic relationship. Indeed, statecraft may be more excellently pursued within the context where the freedom of the human person is re-spected and sealed in law and thought. This concept of human freedom comes to terms with something fundamental about what it means to be human. It ac-knowledges that there is a transcendent dignity to the human person. Human freedom is of profound religious, philo-sophic and moral value.

But development, so considered, is not a mere philosophical abstrac-tion, obviously. The reality of human freedom can be most consequential for an individual and a people. It may be concretely manifested as political free-doms, economic facilities, social oppor-tunities and transparency guarantees. It has to do with overcoming depriva-tion, destitution and oppression (Sen 3). A society that would be free makes arrangements for education and other social amenities in order to deepen the celebration of freedom. A society that would be free is concerned with trans-parency and openness in the hopes of preventing corruption, financial ir-responsibility and dishonesty (4). In the

interest of a just social order, develop-ment, as freedom, encourages lucidity in all transactions and the guarantees of the rights to disclosure in assorted business and social relationships. The freedom of economic transactions can be a great engine for economic growth. The understanding of freedom as central in development should allow for the crafting of policies that could successfully and confidently confront the problems of poverty, the occurrence of famines, widespread hunger, the violation of basic political rights, the neglect of women’s interest and agency, environmental threats, and sustainable economic and social life (3).

Development should be about the ex-pansion of human freedom, giving men and women opportunities to exercise reasoned agency as responsible persons. But the exercise of freedom is mediated by values, and values are determined by the way a human person appreciates her world and her place in that world. To speak of human flourishing is to get ever deeper into the question of the meaning and purpose to life itself. An inadequate worldview may contribute to values and social mores that affect the level of corruption in the soci-ety, the role of trust in relationships, economic, social and political (Sen 9). Such views of the world may not only not contribute to a people’s wellbeing, but might also be a significant factor in their ill being (Meyers 99). Sen has acknowledged that many traditional societies have done just that. Notwith-standing anthropological admirer of past cultural legacies and traditions, these old ways of being in the world may have to be replaced to fully al-low individuals and communities to flourish and benefit from the fruits of development holistically considered.


For international development, the traditional and cultural question is best left open to discussion concerning their value and worth in today’s world. In other words, tradition and culture are not beyond the pale (99). They are not, by definition, sacrosanct.

A new social context may be required where there is a demonstrated commit-ment to the development of institutions that will promote human flourishing. These will likely be institutions that will provide for a good education and for the maintenance of peace and good order. It is in this kind of community where individual freedom would be enhanced for the better, rendering the individual an active participant in community life, and allowing her to contribute meaningfully to community well being and well doing. Develop-ment must therefore work towards the removal of poverty, tyranny, poor eco-nomic opportunities, systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities and the repressive state. Development, as freedom, is about people and their transformation and their search for an identity and a vocation.

Development must provide for mar-kets as a concrete expression of human freedom. The freedom of exchange is but a part of the basic liberties enjoyed by the human person. People must be free to exchange and transact for goods and services without let or hindrance so as to satisfy their needs for food, shelter, clothing and health. Human freedom and rights, though valuable in their own rights and preceding eco-nomic progress, can be very effective in contributing to economic growth. Markets, however, do not preclude the role of social support, public regulation or statecraft when they can enrich, not

impoverish, human lives (Sen 6).

One development thinker has said that development is not an end point but rather a continuous process (Myers 96). This is likely so because develop-ment has to do with human growth and progress. Different nations are at various stages of this continuum, and no one has quite arrived. Rwanda, the African model of development under consideration in this article, is one such nation. This nation has, in spite of her tragic past, made remarkable progress by any measure (Streeter and Mc-Naught 12). Rwanda is now considered to be amongst the fastest developing nations in the world. Indeed, Rwanda is not a perfect model, but she is a good and reasonable one. Additionally, while development may have critical univer-sal features, it nearly always has society specific characteristics. Rwanda is a case in point.

Rwanda is a model for African growth because she has demonstrated a com-mitment to cleaning up corruption and removing the usual barriers to private business investment in post-conflict and developing nations (Streeter and McNaught 12). The Rwandan leader-ship has a strong sense of constitution-alism and purpose. They know what they want to achieve. They are willing to learn and experiment to find policies that work for them. They are commit-ted to building a country of laws by devising an innovative constitution and growing a robust private sector along-side civil society institutions. In these ways, Rwanda is positively instructive to Liberian and other African think-ers and policy makers with interest in creating an efficient state and a success-ful country.


Rwanda’s Development High LightsRwanda’s strategic framework for her progress as a people in the modern world is shaped by these objectives: government efficiency, human re-sources development, infrastructure development, private sector growth, entrepreneurship and modernization. Rwanda shows remarkable promise in her commitment to good governance and anti-corruption policies (Streeter and McNaught 19). She has a good track record of making government accountable, and has shown a demon-strated commitment to entrepreneurial activity, trade and a zero tolerance policy on corruption (19). The Rwan-dan leadership appreciates that corrup-tion has the tendency to suck the life out of any effort to improve governance and development. The leadership has made significant progress in reducing corruption and improving the business climate. In 2009, Rwanda became the world’s top reformer (“Doing Busi-ness”). She ranked 49th on the 2011 Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International. This is a ranking higher then Italy or Greece. On the same index, Rwanda was ranked 89th in 2009 and 66th in 2010. These international standards show how care-ful Rwanda is to make progress.

Rwandans do not want to forget the genocide (Chu “Rwanda’s President” 1). Like a wise and discerning people, they have memorialized it. But this is not the only thing that they want to be known for either. Their aspiration as a people is to now be known as a “purpose driven nation of individual responsibility in harmony with the col-lective good” (Chu 2). The leadership in Rwanda has won praise for stamping

out corruption, restoring stability and attracting investment to the country. Rwandans say “yes to investment and no to corruption”. They have rightly understood that corruption has a deleterious effect on economic growth (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 5). Eco-nomic growth is not sustainable in a corrupt environment. The leadership also knows that it is easier to attract capital when you are honest. In their legal reforms, the Rwandans have introduced commercial courts so as to more quickly and efficiently deal with business disputes involving the enforce-ment of contracts (5). This should bring more predictability to the investment climate, strengthen the rule of law and improve the country’s institutions. The Rwandan leadership has sought to foster a change in the local culture that would embrace prosperity. The country has distinguished itself for economic reforms made, and its government’s commitment to promoting and sustain-ing economic growth. Rwanda has a big dream. She wants to be the Singapore of East Africa. Like Singapore, Rwanda desires to leap from a Third World country status to First World in only a couple of generations. Rwanda wants to become an advanced, knowledge-based economy in East Africa, just like Singapore in Southeast Asia. (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 3)

Not surprisingly, the relative suc-cess of Rwanda is linked intricately to its tough, disciplined, forceful and principled leadership that has been able to foster national unity and grow a strong sense of self –reliance amongst the people in the country. President Paul Kagame has shown himself to be intellectually curious with a desire to transform Rwanda into a modern, prosperous country (Dourado, Shah


and Rohac 7). Rwanda’s govern-ment and civil service are technically competent, and have shown a strong interest in continually improving their level of competence (6). The govern-ment has aggressively recruited highly educated members of the Rwandan Diaspora, in many cases using their embassies abroad to vigorously seek out Rwandans and present them with attractive opportunities at home (6). As a result, Rwanda’s high-level public ser-vants tend to be bright, articulate and western-educated. These skilled profes-sionals have given the reform effort in Rwanda a clear sense of direction and the required technical competence to execute those reforms.

The ancient Chinese sage, Confucius, understood long ago that institutions are reflective of the individuals that make up those institutions. We are the state that we produce. The Rwandan leadership has recognized that the rule of law begins with them. Presi-dent Kagame has said that corruption cannot be fought from the bottom, but must be fought from the top (4). The fight against corruption starts with himself and his high officials. This kind of thinking and being in the world has made accountability a part of the politi-cal culture in Rwanda. Government Officials can be dismissed or impris-oned if they fail to disclose conflict of interests. They are also required to sign a performance contract with the President detailing what they intend to accomplish in the coming year, and if they fail to meet their targets they can be removed from office (4).

Rwanda has come a long way from a shattered social, economic, politi-cal and cultural fabric to the creation of new institutions that provide good

foundations for the crafting of new rules and values to accommodate an inclusive leadership and meet the needs of the population. The government is currently undertaking an extensive pro-gram of land registration which aims to formalize all property claims with 70% of land titles issued by 2013 (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 5). Rwanda has set up clear rules for the transition of local and national leadership. She has limited the term of a setting president to two. The constitution has institutionalized a power sharing arrangement, by decree-ing that no one party can hold the office of the presidency and the position of parliamentary speaker simultaneously. It has also degreed that the council of ministers cannot be drawn from a single party. While not unduly weaken-ing her governmental center, Rwanda has sought to broaden the concept of leadership by decentralizing and local-izing responsibilities and accountabil-ity. The government has endeavored to implement best practice regulation in its bureaucracies. It has legislated state-of-the-art public procurement regulations taken from the international trade laws. Through these and other measures, Rwanda has dramatically improved her institutional environment. The Rwan-dan government understands that a good legal system weakens the incen-tive to find a way around it, and helps to decrease the level of corruption in the society.

But Rwanda is not satisfied with good legislation and good policies as impres-sive as these are. She has also sought to excellently and strictly enforce these laws, regulations and policies. The for-mation of the Rwandan Development Board has been very helpful in realizing policy objectives. Rwanda ranks 45th in the World Bank’s 2012 Doing Busi-


ness index survey (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 5). This ranking represents an improvement from previous rankings of 50th in 2011 and 70th in 2010. Start-ing a business in Rwanda involves but two procedures and takes only three days. This is less time than it takes to start a business in Ireland, Denmark or Finland (5). It is easier to do business in Rwanda then in Brazil, Russia, India or China.

As noted elsewhere, “changing people changes everything”. Rwanda appreci-ates that one of Singapore’s major ad-vantages is its outstanding educational system. The leadership in Rwanda has made education a key priority for the government (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 5). The Government sees its invest-ment in education as fundamental to its policy of national development (Streeter and McNaught 16). Rwanda has issued a call for experienced professionals to come and assist in the training the Rwandan people. The government education policy focuses not only on formal professional and academic training, but also on techni-cal and vocational training (16). Once people are educated, they can exploit their own opportunities and in that way make substantial contributions to the building of a strong state.

The Government has been ever so care-ful in its partnerships. It has acknowl-edged the critical role that non-govern-mental organizations (NGO) play in building a strong state. It has insisted, however, that the work these organiza-tions in Rwanda do, are in line with its development policies and be consistent with the NGO’s own stated mission in the country (Chu “Rwanda Rising” 4). Rwanda wants “investment not corrup-tion” (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 4).

Rwanda is uncomfortable with mere foreign aid. She sees development aid as temporary and transitory. Develop-ment aid is helpful in mitigating a great natural disaster, an emergency or a ma-jor recovery effort, the reconstruction of strategic infrastructure or vital insti-tution, but never as a permanent part of the resources available to a government indefinitely. Paul Kagame rightly thinks that no country can depend on aid forever (Chu “Rwanda Rising” 2). He sees foreign aid as dehumanizing in the dependency that it breeds, robbing a people of their dignity and self-respect. Rwanda is blessed with vast human and natural resources. When managed properly, these resources should be able to provide well for Rwanda’s needs. Rwanda is interested in commerce, industry, and trade and adding value to her products for export or local con-sumption. The prosperity of any state is established through the hard earned currency of its people as taxpayers not on foreign aid (2). Foreign aid is not the answer to a nation’s development needs. For the Government and people of Rwanda, development assistance is ultimately not acceptable and unsus-tainable. With appropriate discern-ment, Rwanda has, however, used its development aid to create real value in line with her development policy, by investing in people and infrastructure to foster economic and societal growth, rendering her less dependent on for-eign assistance.

The Rwandan Government is interested in forming relationship-based strategic partnerships for nation building. They look for good partners for opportuni-ties in business, philanthropy and civil society. They have sent fact-finding missions to Asia in just such a pursuit. President Kagame speaks at Google and


meets with American entrepreneurs looking for partners in development (Chu “Rwanda Rising” 7). The Govern-ment of Rwanda is now embarked upon establishing an Information and Com-munications Technology (ICT) center of excellence dedicated to scientific research and technological innovation.

History and BackgroundA brief historical review of Rwanda is necessary to understand the signifi-cance of Rwanda’s rise. The determina-tion of a people for good can lead a country to success.

Rwanda has become notorious for her momentous Genocide of 1994 with 800,000 mortalities. Unfortunately, the death and destruction that occurred that summer, though record breaking, was not new to Rwanda. The unrest in Rwanda goes so far back in history that no one can remember when and how it started. The beginning of Rwandan history involves mainly three tribes, the Hutu, the Tutsi and the Twa. Though the prejudice between the Hutu and Tutsi rose to such intensity the actual difference between the two tribes is not so stark. Historians do not know which tribe arrived in Rwanda first or if the tribes were even established before arrival. Regardless, various kings ruled the tribes, referenced as “clans” during the times of the monarchy, until the time of Colonization (Gourevitch 1).

The Germans in 1884 were the first of two Europeans to colonize Rwanda. As World War I (WWI) began, the Bel-gians entered and began to introduce small changes into Rwandan society, most with regards to health. But the most memorable modification the Bel-

gians implemented was the infamous race card. The three main Rwandan tribes, though established, were not so starkly recognized until the Europe-ans arrived. In fact, up to the time of the Europeans, the country was fairly unified, sharing “one language and one social and political culture” (Goure-vitch 162). In the colonial system, the Germans and Belgians preferred the Tutsis to the Hutu and Twa (164). The Europeans, true to their racist pro-clivities, gave only one reason for their choice of the Tutsis, they were said to be lighter-skinned (“History of Rwan-da”). To enforce this idea, the Belgians distributed cards that were to be carried by all Rwandans that identified them by tribe. But the tribal troubles are not to be solely blamed on the Europeans. Scholars have differing opinions on the state of the tribal relations before the arrival of the colonizers; some argue that there was existing turmoil and that European racism simply exagger-ated that turmoil. In all, it remains true that the people of Rwanda are morally responsible agents and as such respon-sible for their actions.

After World War II (WWII), the Belgians began a slow release of the country from colonial rule. By this time the Hutu and Tutsi tribes were so greatly divided that they even began separate independence movements. 1959 saw the first massacre. The event of the massacre was not documented well and thus there is uncertainty about the extent of the killings. It is specu-lated that within a period of over a year, 20,000-100,000 persons were killed, and around other 100,000 persons were displaced (“History of Rwanda”).


Though the Belgians were still deeply involved in Rwanda at this time, their role in these events is unclear. They of-ficially attempted to stop the massacre. In 1962, the Belgians set up the first Rwandan elections (“History of Rwan-da”). They were unabashed in support for the Hutus during the elections. At this time, the reign of the Tutsis was dismantled and the Hutus began to rule (Gourevitch 164). In 1962, there were more clashes between the two tribes involving the deaths of thousands more people (Gourevitch 164).

Paul KagameIn light of the foregoing account, the history of Rwanda can be read as a depressing tale of a country split by ha-tred and mistrust, yet hope was grow-ing. The Rwandan Diaspora remained hopeful. Paul Kagame grew up in Uganda, amongst Rwandans who had fled the civil unrest (“Biography”). For thirty years, Kagame lived and went to school in a Ugandan refugee camp with other Tutsis and Ugandans (Gourevitch 164). Kagame was a good student with dreams of one day returning home to Rwanda (164). There were many other children who shared his dream. Fred Rwigyema, Kagame’s best friend, was one such child (170). “We would discuss the future of the Rwandese… this was always eating up our minds, even as kids”, Kagame reminisced in an interview from 1995; “The politi-cal consciousness was there. We had ideas of our rights. Fred and I used to read stories about how people fought to liberate themselves. This was on our minds all the time” (168).

Kagame grew into a man with a strong will to realize his dream (Gourevitch

162). In 1981, there was another coup-d’état in Uganda and the country moved from one dictator to the next (164). Kagame jumped at the chance to be a part of his first fight for freedom, and he joined Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA) to fight against the new dictator in Ugan-da (164). For five years, Kagame and his friend Fred Rwigyema, fought in the bush until Museveni gained power in Uganda. At 29 years old, Kagame was named Chief of Military Intelligence in the new Uganda of Museveni (171).

Rwanda’s trail of hope follows Kagame because his life was typical of many Rwandans. By the mid-1980s, there were nearly one million Rwandan Dias-pora, many of them Tutsi (Gourevitch 164). “A sizable number of refugees, like Kagame, had fought alongside Musev-eni in Uganda,” says Philip Gourevitch in the preface to his interview with Kagame, “after the NRA’s victory; they set their sights on Rwanda” (164).

While hope grew among the Diaspora, there were still struggles at home. In 1987, Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) was founded with three goals: to destroy the dictatorship in Rwanda, to allow all Rwandan refugees to return home, and to create a unified nation through a unified government (Goure-vitch 164). The organization realized early on that to create one Rwanda they had to be rid of ethnicities. As a group, they committed to referring to anyone from Rwanda as simply “Rwandan”, no matter his or her status or ethnic-ity (164). By early October 1990, the RPF, led by Fred Rwigyema, Kagame’s childhood friend, attacked Rwanda from their temporary home in Uganda.


Kagame, meanwhile, was in the U.S., training with the Ugandan army. On the first day of the attack Rwigyema was killed. When Kagame heard the news, he deserted the Ugandans and came home, stepping into Rwigyema’s place (165).

Meanwhile, the tensions in Rwanda intensified resulting in more violence, assassinations and killings (Gourevitch 165). The RPF continued to fight for the next three years. “The RPF never expected a full military victory,” com-ments Gourevitch, “the objective was only to force a political settlement” (165). Finally, President Habyarimana of Rwanda bent to external pressure to meet the RPF’s demands for negotia-tions (166). The Hutu extremists were livid. On his return from signing the peace agreements, Habyarimana’s plane was shot down on April 6, 1994.

To date, it has not been determined who actually killed Habyarimana, but the Hutus took the event as their signal to destroy the Tutsis once and for all (Gourevitch 166). In the next one hundred days, the Hutus, number-ing around 6.5 million, murdered the Tutsis, numbering around 1.2 million (166). In a Genocide that has been called the most brutal since the Holo-caust, 800,000 Rwandans were chopped up, shot, raped and tortured in a matter of one hundred days (“Biography”). The world watched in horror and did nothing.

The RPF marched from Northern Rwanda to Kigali, with a determina-tion to end the killings. By mid-July they had gain control of the situation (Gourevitch 165). They set up a new

Rwandan government with a moderate Hutu as president and Kagame as vice president.

Doing WellAt this point in time, the world ex-pected nothing but more failure from Rwanda. The country had murdered an eighth of its population and even more had fled out of shame (Chu, “Rwanda’s President” 1). At home thousands of killers were living alongside thou-sands of victims (Fairbanks, “Rwanda’s president leads” 2). Every aspect of the country was affected by the Genocide, including the economy, which contin-ued to shrink for the next five years (2). Yet while the world had little hopes for the recovery of this self-destructive country, Rwanda herself was not ready to give up.

During the Genocide the international community greatly disappointed the Rwandans and the RPF in particu-lar. The UN did not aid Kagame and his army. The Rwandans learned the fickleness of foreign aid through these events. Their self-respect pushed them to make sure they were never again caught in a situation where the world could let them down. “Such depen-dency dehumanizes us and robs us of our dignity, and quite frankly it is an unacceptable proposition, besides be-ing unsustainable,” said Kagame (Chu “Rwanda’s President” 2). Rwandans de-cided with a strong determination that they themselves were their only hope for recovery, humanly speaking. It was essential that all the people share in this resolute determination for Rwanda to have a credible chance at recovery. The new government also realized that their hopes must be for more than survival


if they were to avoid indefinitely the violence of Rwanda’s past.

With these ideas in mind, the govern-ment put together Vision 2020, a plan “to build an information technology-driven marketplace that could trans-form a poor, agriculturally dependent economy into a middle income country by 2020” (Darrough 2). It seemed like the Rwandan government was ignoring the smaller issues of getting food on the table and prosecuting the thou-sands of perpetrators and instead was looking towards building the economy and stabilizing the government. In fact, they were doing just this because they knew such changes would trickle down and benefit the whole country. Though it may not have been apparent, but avoiding more killing was always on the leaders’ minds. “We know that if that past is never to happen again,” said Kagame, “we must grow our economy, create opportunities for higher wages so that we create conditions for toler-ance, trust, and optimism. That is Rwanda’s new ‘brand identity,’ as you call it,” (Chu “Rwanda’s President” 2). The smaller issues were not left undone while casting the larger vision.

The success of Rwanda, while beholden to excellent leadership, has not hap-pened without the contribution, and cooperation, of the larger population. The leaders were well aware that their Vision would not be a success if not shared by the people and thus they have strived to communicate it in a way that every person could understand (“The Secret of Rwanda”). In an article on a Wharton University trip to Rwanda, one student was reprimanded by a tour guide for handing out pens to children,

“You cannot do that,” scolded the guide, “All you’re doing is teaching these kids to be beggars. That is not acceptable to us.” The author of the article goes on to say that through these events the Wharton students realized that “every person he met in Rwanda seemed on board with a common vision to rebuild the country” (1).

After an interim of 6 years, in April 2000, Kagame was appointed to the Presidency and was elected for a second term in 2010 (“Biography”). Kagame has implemented Vision 2020 by focus-ing on the education sector, cultivating positive aspects of Rwandan cultural practices, and maintaining a careful approach to foreign aid.Rwanda knew that if Vision 2020 was going to be successful and their society be provided with a technological base, than they would have to focus on properly educating the next generation (Darrough 2). With over fifty percent of the population under 18, the op-portunity to change the country for good through the education of the next generation is incredible (Chu “Rwanda’s President” 3). Rwandans discovered that they weren’t the only ones who appreciated the transformative power of education in human society. In 2004, Dr. Mike O’Neal, a professor from Oklahoma, came to Rwanda to pursue establishing schools in East Africa (Darrough 1). Kagame and O’Neal, along with others, established exchange student programs for young Rwandans to travel to the United States for further education (2). As the years progressed, funding for these programs dried up (4). Rwanda, convinced of the impor-tance of this sector, continues to pour money into education, making her


“one of the few nations in the develop-ing world spending more on educa-tion than on the military” (Fairbanks, “Rwanda’s president leads” 2). Students continue to graduate with high honors from high schools; earning full scholar-ships to Universities around the world (Darrough 4).

Rwanda has a beautiful culture, and the new leaders took this into account when rebuilding the nation. They began to encourage the parts of that culture that benefited the society. They were, however, careful to revamp these tradi-tions so as to make them effective in a modern setting (Fairbanks, “Rwanda’s president leads” 2). One such tradition is the coffee business. Around 500,000 farmers in Rwanda have coffee farms (2). Kagame saw that this industry was not only an integral part of the economy, but also an integral part of the identity of these farmers. Thus he encouraged the country to invest in this business so as to improve and strength-en it. (2).

Another remarkable tradition in Rwanda is the village court system based on peer justice, called Gacaca, that tried 1.5 million perpetrators in the years following the Genocide (Fairbanks, “Rwanda’s ‘Twitter and Chief ’” 2). Kagame could have looked to other models of reconciliation, but he knew that to address such personal issues there would need to be personal solutions, solutions that Rwandans could grasp and respect. Gacaca, mean-ing to sit down and talk through an issue, created speedier court processing and involved the community so as to produce a feeling of satisfaction and justice. The international community

criticized the tradition, saying it was not an efficient system. While it is true that Gacaca was originally created to only settle small local disputes, this court system, was called upon in a time of need to step up and serve a more de-manding purpose. And Gacaca did just that. After processing around 2 million people and lasting 10 years, Kagame of-ficially closed the courts in June of 2012 (“Rwanda’s gacaca” 1).

To truly cultivate culture, one must not only preserve and highlight the positive aspects of the culture, but one must also have the courage to weed out those things that are negative. This is the only way to grow and blossom. The RPF, while appreciating Rwanda’s culture, was not blind to the problem of tribalism in that culture. Tribal-ism, a cultural institution created by the Rwandans, and exaggerated by the Europeans, clearly lies at the root of much of the evils that have come to the country. The RPF was wise enough to see that to cut down the tree they had to start at the root. Gourevitch says that the “The RPF has consistently pre-sented its revolutionary struggle as one of national liberation for all Rwandans” (164). As mentioned before, the RPF refused to acknowledge tribes, even though a majority of their forces were Tutsi, because they knew that tribalism was dividing them as a people. Once they gained power, they abolished the race cards and created programs to en-courage Hutu refugees to return home (Lovgren 2). Hopefully, this healthy critique of their own culture may save the Rwandans from repeating their tragic past. The tribe as an institution or group no longer has a legal status in Rwanda.


Partners in DevelopmentRwanda’s approach to education and culture has accelerated the country’s progress in development. Her stance, however, on foreign aid has been truly enlightening. Besides being cautious, she has been creative and fecund. Though rightly frustrated with the reliability of the international com-munity, Rwandan government leaders have, nevertheless, appreciated the importance of foreign aid when wisely invested, as noted previously. It is within these considerations, that the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) was conceived. The council is com-posed of highly skilled Rwandan and other international professionals, who have vast experience in many impor-tant areas such as government, faith-based institutions and global compa-nies. President Kagame has said that the presidential council constitutes a pool of talent of an inexhaustible source of advice and inspiration from people with vast knowledge and experience in areas needed to create prosperity in his country (Chu “Rwanda’s President” 1).These men and women, known affectionately as “Friends of Rwanda”, meet twice a year, once in Kigali and once in New York City, to discuss ways to enable Rwanda to transform great ideas into practice to the benefit of the Rwandan people (1). Rick Warren, an influential American Pastor and author, Scott Ford, the former CEO of Alltel, and Tony Blair are all members of the council (1). The council has been referred to as a high-level, low profile dispatch team and brain trust. The creation of the council is strategic to the implementation of Vision 2020 (1). The best example of what the PAC is doing may be seen in the person and work of Dale Dawson.

Dale Dawson’s relationship with Rwan-da started with ennui (Levenick 1). By the time Dawson, an Arkansas-born American businessman, was 46 years old, he felt as if he had accomplished everything he set out to accomplish in life. Beginning as an accountant he worked for 8 years with corporate insurance tax, until he was promoted to national director of the company. Next he was invited to join Stephens Inc., an investment bank that works with many large American companies. He worked there for 10 years, until he was ap-pointed as head of investment banking practices (1). He then bought TruckPro, a struggling manufacturing company. Dawson worked very hard to save the company and by 1998, when he sold the company to AutoZone, an Ameri-can auto parts maker, he had developed it into the largest independent distribu-tor of truck parts in the United States. It was around this time that Dawson began to have feelings of restlessness and a sense of dissatisfaction about his life’s purpose and meaning. During this time, Dawson was privileged to meet Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda. When the bishop heard his story he counsel Dawson to take his knowledge and skills and go to Rwanda to do ser-vice in business.

After talking with the bishop and at-tending a conference on doing business in Africa, Dawson decided to begin doing business in Rwanda. He did some research and convinced Opportunity International, a nonprofit business organization working in the develop-ing world, to open a bank in Rwanda. Dawson used his skills-set in account-ing and investment banking to create capitol for the bank, provide


support and give leadership. The bank flourished. Today it employs over 200 Rwandans and has built a $12 million loan portfolio.

Dawson saw that he could make a profit in Rwanda, but he also saw that he could make a difference. After the establishment of the bank, Dawson was inspired to create more business in Rwanda. He knew firsthand the stabil-ity and reliability of Rwanda, but he also knew what would be required for Rwanda to become a major player in the business world. He discerned that entrepreneurship would be central to meeting many of the needs in Rwanda. With these ideas in mind, Dawson founded Bridge2Rwanda (B2R), a nonprofit that began as a business in-cubator. Next Dawson took a step back and saw that to build businesses there needed to be entrepreneurs. Dawson believed that the most transforma-tional thing he could do was to train young Rwandans for business (Lev-enick 1). Since Rwanda could greatly benefit from young entrepreneurs, B2R expanded their vision to include “building businesses with a mission to transform lives and creating opportuni-ties for Rwanda’s best students to get a global education” (Dawson). Instead of simply inviting business to come work in Rwanda, B2R encourages training through all of their partnerships. They have launched several training courses and internships for Rwanda’s budding entrepreneurs, as well as business and financial advisory services for those already established.

As B2R partnered with Rwanda to improve the business sector, it became apparent that higher education was es-

sential to this process. In 2009, Kagame approached Dawson with the problem of higher education. Of the 25,000 Rwandan seniors graduating each year, many were not making it into col-lege (“B2R Case Paper”). They were struggling with English, and were not trained in taking standardized interna-tional qualifying exams. B2R began a scholars program that offered training for Rwanda’s top students attempting to enter college or graduate school abroad. The program not only equips them for higher education abroad but also helps them in attaining scholarships, con-nects them with host families, encour-ages them in their spiritual lives and inspires them to community service.As Kagame began to realize the value of gathering these “Friends of Rwanda”, he noticed the work of Dawson. He visited some of the projects Dawson was a part of, and in 2008, Dawson was invited, along with the bishop who had encouraged him to consider Rwanda in the first place, to sit on the Presidential Advisory Council. Dawson’s relative success in Rwanda is based on relation-ships of mutual respect for the dignity of the human person. He sees Rwanda as viable player with meaningful contri-butions to make to their own develop-ment and progress as a nation.Kagame and the Rwandan Government have appreciated the importance of harnessing the interest of people from around the world such as Dawson. These relationships not only produced friends but just as importantly, partners in Rwanda’s development. Through Rwanda’s partnership with Tony Blair, a program has been established that creates opportunities for some of the mandarins of Her Majesty’s govern-ment at Whitehall to come and work


directly with the Rwandan government. These highly skilled and experienced bureaucrats from Britain bring with them a great tradition of efficiency, professionalism and technical compe-tence. It is hoped that in these ex-changes there will be a transfer of skills and knowledge. Through Joe Ritchie, a multi-millionaire from Chicago, who also sits on the PAC, Kagame has established impressive business and professional relationships with Costco and Starbucks for selling Rwandan cof-fee all over the world (“Why CEOs love Rwanda). This contact has provided the added value of business and profes-sional internship for Rwandans at these companies. The government is always on the lookout to recruit more friends (Chu “Rwanda Rising” 4). Through the PAC, Rwanda now has the opportunity to pull from high-grade international experts from many fields, while simul-taneously convincing the world of the value of investing in Rwanda.

Kagame has not forgotten the les-sons learned from the Genocide: that a conscientious leader may disagree with international experts because that leader is ultimately the one responsible for the country and likely knows it best. In the years after the Genocide, international advisors warned Kagame against building up the coffee business (Fairbanks “Insights” 2). They informed him that other more powerful countries were monopolizing the market (2). But Kagame knew the importance of the coffee culture to his people, something the international advisors may not have known. He decided against their advice and as mentioned above, the decision proved profitable to the country.

Rwanda’s cautious approach to foreign aid has led to a greater sense of self-reliance. When funds for Rwandan stu-dents exchange program in Oklahoma dried up, Rwanda was not left without options (Darrough 4). Kagame went to Dale Dawson and together they estab-lished a high school training program in Rwanda to ensure that Rwandan students would be competitive enough to enter any university in the world (4). This program has the added advantage of cultivating and retaining talent at home for the local universities. Rwanda has flourished. Rwanda is flourishing. The country’s economy has grown annually by 8% for the last ten years. Even the recent down turn in international markets have not retarded Rwanda’s growth. Rwanda is on target to meet its own goals laid out in Vision 2020. In Rwanda, in the last five years, more than one million people have pulled themselves out of poverty, because of the favorable policy environment provided to encourage their personal growth and improve-ment. Rwanda is now ranked amongst the top ten fastest growing economies in the world (Fairbanks, “Rwanda’s president leads”). In 2012, 18 years after the Genocide, the World Bank called Rwanda a country “at peace and among the most stable in the world” (“The Secret of Rwanda”).

Rwanda has also progressed socially. The country has the unique distinc-tion in the world to have over half of her elected assembly be women (“The Secret of Rwanda”). She has the best broadband connection in all of East Africa. This fact in turn has expanded the number of Rwandans using social media to communicate.


ConclusionsCan Rwanda’s success be replicated in other African countries such as Liberia? Well yes, but not without the techno-cratic efficient system of governance. This is a system of governance that has a policy commitment to adopting best practices from around the world. It is a commitment to professional excellence in governance by the leadership and the people. This commitment has improved the government’s ability to act quickly and effectively with equity to all (Dou-rado, Shah and Rohac 13).

Rwanda’s excellent institutions, how-ever, have not automatically trans-lated into economic success. Rwanda remains a very poor country (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 7). She is poorer then Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania (7). It is likely that she is the only sub-Saharan African country whose economic growth is not being held back by bad institutions and kleptocratic govern-ment elite (7). This is good news for Rwanda. Rwanda’s problem lies in poor infrastructure, bad neighbors and a lack of human capital (Streeter and McNaught 14). But as we have seen, Rwanda is working hard to overcome all of these obstacles. Rwanda, being a landlocked country, has no sure route to the sea. And because of this fact, her access to international markets is rather limited. The role of good institutions, however, cannot be overstated. It is a great good to any society and, while important to the proper functioning of markets, exceeds any market value. Good institutions are reflective of the order and peace within us as indi-viduals. It is always better to have good governance and institutions then not. They have an intellectual, a moral and

an aesthetic value and put a people in a ready state to seize the opportunity whenever it appears.

It is generally believed that Rwanda’s infrastructure limitations may be over-come by a critical mass of investment in a state-of-the-art, modern, internation-al airport facility. This may prove strate-gic in allowing Rwanda ready access to international markets. The concern for human capital development in Rwanda is not merely with more or even better schooling. As it has been mentioned, Rwanda does have a small class of well-educated, high skill professionals, at high levels in the government. How-ever, a large gap exists between that group and everybody else. And it is that gap that the leadership is anxious to fill. The skills that are needed here are more subtle and tacit (Dourado, Shah and Rohac 11). They are the skills needed to grow an entrepreneurial and intellectu-al class able to think independently and critically and know what is expected in the business world (Streeter and McNaught17). These kinds of skills are more delicately transmitted within rela-tionships, typically the mentor-student relationship or other forms of highly relational exchanges in commerce and professional-technical interactions between Rwanda and foreign workers. Internships and exchange programs have been suggested as possible solu-tions to this problem of training and skills. Rwanda needs to build capacity to maximize the benefits from her good institutions and able leadership (17).

Rwanda’s graduated tax system, copied from western models, is not suited to her small tax base and her need to at-tract foreign investors. But the Rwan-


dans are fast learners. They are learning how to adopt appropriate international standards to serve their purpose. They are in the process of changing their tax structure to meet the needs of their small tax base and their need for more Foreign Direct Investments Dourado, Shah and Rohac 8).

The business of building a modern nation-state is a hard and complex task. Formally certified skills and training are but a mere beginning to a very complicated and varied task. Many years of experience with the nurture of good professional, administrative and intellectual traditions will be neces-sary. A strong prosperous state is not built in one generation. The virtue that will be key in meeting this great task is humility, that is, having sufficient clarity and self -knowledge to honestly appreciate what one know and does not know about such a complex task. There is much here that can be learned from Rwanda: her lawfulness, her honesty, her integrity, and her pursuit for excel-lence. Yet what might be most admi-rable is the strength of her leaders to appreciate their limitations and needs, and actively seek the wisdom and assis-tance of others to help them meet those needs and curb those limitations and so allow them to render better service

Sources:“Biography”. Forbes. June 6, 2007. Web.

Chu, Jeff. “Rwanda Rising: A New Model of Economic Development.” Fast Company. April 1, 2009. Web.

Chu, Jeff. “Rwanda’s President: ‘We will not forget the genocide, but we will not be defined by it either’.” Fast Company. April 6, 2009. Web.

Darrough, Mark. “In pursuit of excellence.” The Independent Post. March 1, 2010. Web.

Dourado, Eli, Hemal Shah, Dalibor Rohac. “Six Questions You Always Wanted To Know About Africa…And Answers From Rwanda.” Legatum Institute, 2012. Print.

“Doing Business 2010.” The World Bank. 2012. Web.

Fairbanks, Michael. “Insights: Rwanda’s president leads an inspiring turn-around.” The Washington Post. March 1, 2010. Web.

Fairbanks, Michael. “Rwanda’s president leads an inspiring turn-around.” The Washington Post.February 26, 2010. Web.

Fairbanks, Michael. “Rwanda’s Twitter and Chief ’ and Four Other Anomalies.” Web.

Gourevitch, Philip. “After Genocide.” Web. 1996.

“History of Rwanda.” Wikipedia, The Free Ency-clopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. September 15, 2012. Web.

Myers, Byant L. Walking with the Poor. Maryk-noll: World Vision International, 2008. Print

Levenick, Christopher. “Lending a Hand.” Phi-lanthropy Roundtable. 2012. Web.

Lovgren, Stefan. “Rwanda, Ten Years Later: Justice is Elusive, Despite Peace” National Geo-graphic News. April 6, 2004. Web.

Fairbanks, Michael. “Rwanda: Can We Believe What We See?” Web.

“Rwanda ‘gacaca’ genocide courts finish work.” BBC News. June 18, 2012 Web.

Sen, Amartyr Kumar. Development as Freedom. Knopf, 1999. Print.

Streeter, Ryan, and Mary McNaught. “Prospects for Prosperity: Rwanda and the Entrepreneurial Society.” Civic Enterprises, LLC, with Hudson Institute: 2008. Print.

“The Secret of Rwanda: Pushing Leadership Down the Line.” Forbes. June 6, 2012. Web.


Reflections: Lessons From History By Donald L. Cassell, Jr., Senior Fellow, Isoko Institute

Lessons From History by Will & Ariel DurantForeword & Commentary by Alonzo L. McDonald The Trinity Forum Readings, 2009, 46 pages, ExcerptsThe Trinity Forum, Virginia, U.S. A.

This is a commentary on a commentary of sorts. A commentary on a commentary has an illustrious past within many intellectual traditions. The Trinity Forum Readings referenced above is a program of small booklet publications from The Trinity Forum featuring biographies, essays and classic stories addressing the great perennial questions of human knowledge and life from some the greatest thinkers of human history. These booklets are published with helpful comments from an authority on the subject being addressed. These are helpful comments for two reasons: we can all learn from each other and we are initiated into the great perennial conversation on human life and meaning. The Trinity Forum is a leadership academy oriented towards thought leaders in business, government and civil society. We in Liberia, in this our moment in history, are especially posed for the consideration of these first things about knowledge and life, as we attend to the great and serious task of nation-building and national development. The authors (Will and Ariel Durant, a husband and wife team) of the text under consideration are amongst some of the finest products of American thought and scholarship. Together they have written many volumes on human civilizations, history and culture. They are mostly known for their eleven volumes set (at least 800 pages a piece), The Story of Civilization. But

the slender volume at about 118 pages The Lessons from History is considered by many thoughtful people to be their magnum opus. The book is a synopsis and analysis of their lifetime of the study of history, human civilizations and cultures.

The booklet follows the divisions of the original publication with an addition of a foreword, providing context and framework, and commentaries at the end of each chapter divisions. Our approach here will be to highlight some of the salient points made in the booklet, including points from the commentaries and our own considered observations.

A contemporary writer, Junot Diaz, has said that intelligence does not equal wisdom. This is the impression one is left with after reading Lessons From History. The Durant’s overriding personal interest in the study of human history was in improving human relationships, finding meaning in life and appreciating the essential roles of love and family in the progress and growth of a people. They assessed human progress in the outcome of the laughter of young children and the endurance and strength of a marriage. Likely these thinkers would have agreed with the statement that, “progress is a measure of our successes on our way to full knowledge and full love”.


Their major conclusion is that no matter the advances of modern society or its pace, human nature remains basically the same. Men and women are generally still determined by similar aspirations and fears as they were 5,000 years ago. They still react to circumstance and conflict as they did thousands of years ago. They are still taken up with trying to control destiny to their advantage. The changes wrought overtime are only in means, not ends. The newness of the modern world is only in form, not substance.

The Durants believed that “the present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding”. In that past the Durants would seek to be instructed in the nature, conduct and prospect for humanity in the complex web of human relationships, and in the complexity of the individual human person as a composite of body, character and mind.

In their consideration of the vastness and complexity of the natural world and of humanity’s place in it, the Durants concluded that the first lesson in the study of human history is modesty. Yet this modesty has not led them to a reductionist view of humanity, where man and women are of little value. Though mankind is small compared with his surroundings, he is nevertheless self-conscious of himself and his surroundings. This self-consciousness sets him apart from his material surroundings and renders him extraordinary and great. Quoting from the great Frenchman Pascal, the Durants write, “when the universe has crushed him man will still be nobler than that which kills him, because

he knows that he is dying, and of its victory the universe knows nothing”. This is similar to the sayings of the Psalms in the Old Testament: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:3-5). People are very important; people are more important than things.

The Durants maintain that in spite of the very real advantages and disadvantages presented by geography it is “man and not the earth [that] makes civilization”. Likely they would disagree with the ancient Greek historian Herodotus’ observation that Egypt is the gift of the Nile. Rather Egypt is the result of the leadership of the great Pharaohs and their courts, without whose leadership Egypt must cease to be. This observation on the primacy of human agency goes against some of the thinking within international development circles that would see a country’s under development as largely determined by its geography. Advances in human civilized orders are determined by human aspirations and achievements and not by obstacles in the naturalenvironment.

Without contradicting the religious and philosophical dictum, that all men are created equal, the Durants would have us appreciate that mankind is, however, disbursed with various natural endowments and gifts of


customs and education. Humankind is equal in that they are of the same species, the same type of living being, not of an inferior class, of the same substance and sharing the same self-consciousness. Nevertheless, people are subject to physical and psychological heredity, and the customs and traditions of their group. Mankind is diversely endowed in health, strength, mental capacities and qualities of character. Surely most of us never attain to the athletic prowess of a Usain Bolt. The Durants therefore think that when men are left free, their natural inequalities multiply almost geometrically. Fewer people become a Usain Bolt and many more become very average indeed. In light of this fact of the human condition, they think that our best option is to strive for a level playing field or approximate equality in the legal system and educational opportunities. A good society would create conditions that allow for the abilities of all its people to develop and function at full potential. The Durants think that intelligence is the result of individual education, opportunity and experience. They say that there is no evidence that intellectual acquirements are transmitted in the genes. No matter how well educated your parents are it is not possible that you could simply attain to their accomplishment without similar arduous training. Men and women cannot circumvent the educational process. Every generation must be at least as studious as their parents to attain to their accomplishments. The Durants maintain that each person must pass through an intensive learning experience filled with trials and errors. There are no short cuts. This

is true of everybody and every people group. The potential, therefore, waiting to be actualized amongst any people or in any individual person, is immense indeed.

The Durants noted that their studies indicate that nature has a preference for abundance. In their words: “Life must breed.” Economically, this may be appreciated in what is referred to as the demographic dividend. It is generally believed that the rise in a people’s population contributes favorably to their economic growth and may be a sign of their emergence or reemergence as the case may be, whereas a population decline represents a contraction of a people and their civilization. In all of Africa’s long history, it is only recently that she has begun to see a real population increase which speaks well of her future prospects. Africa’s population increase is considered integral to her present rise.

History knows no distinction of race. It is color-blind. Civilization can be developed under any skin in any favorable environment. It is civilization that makes a people and not race. World civilization, as we know it today and as it has always been, is the result of a collective and co-operative effort, claiming wide and varied contributions from many different people the world over. World civilization is our common heritage and debt. No one group has an exclusive claim. The achievements of even the great nations of today represent the co-operative product of many people from around the world. European expansion and exploration


bear witness to this fact being recent and so well documented. But this is also true of other major centers like China, India and the Middle East, etc. The Durants think that a truly cultured person will therefore treat every man and woman, however lowly, with respect as representatives of one of these creative and contributory groups to human civilized order. This is very insightful. No nation however great is an island. Sadly, many great nations to their loss have held fast to the conceit that they are solely responsible for their own rise.

The Durants believe that “society is founded not on ideals but on the nature of man”. They are realist, accounting for man’s nobility and ignobility. Human nature is comprised of the fundamental tendencies and feelings of mankind. Man is who he has always been. The Durants think that poor people have the same impulses as rich people only with less opportunity or skill to implement them. They value the human person as an agent over his societal structures. The structures in human society are but an extension of the mind and will of humanity. Besides a direct reference to a transcendent reality, men and women are makers of history not structures and things. Human actors are center stage in the drama of history. The Durants have therefore taken seriously the role of great men and woman in history. They maintain that extraordinary leaders have shaped human civilization. Society evolved from and around a few individuals of great character, skill and genius. So someone like the Chinese sage Confucius, they see as quite central to Chinese history and

culture. Leadership is important to a people. Leadership is the formative force in history. It can be used for good or evil. The initiative of the individual is important and must not be taken for granted.

In the individual the Durants have accounted for these three things: health, character and intellect in that order. Character is second only to health in human flourishing. Character is expressed in core human values of manners and the treatment of other human beings with dignity and respect. They are askance about intellect, being rather suspicious about its claims. They do acknowledge though that intellect can be a vital force in history, but see that it can also be a dissolvent and an arrogant destructive power. In contrast to their suspicion of the intellect of a single individual or groups of individuals, they have a healthy respect for traditions, customs and institutions not withstanding their great-man view of history. In their way of thinking, for every 100 new ideas, 99 or more will be inferior to the traditional responses, which the intellectuals proposed to replace. It is the Durants’ position that, “no one man, however brilliant or well informed, can come in one life time to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society, for these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history.” We are warned against intellectual arrogance. They remind us that even the wisest sage is yet in need of the perspective of a hundred lives. This is a caution to those of us who are formally educated to be modest at best in appreciating our


value to our families and communities. The Durants said that concerning the warp and woof of human culture and civilization, we are like drops of water trying to understand the sea.

The Durants see morals and conduct as a code of identity essential to a group’s survival. Yet it is their sad conclusion that “man has never reconciled himself to the Ten Commandments.” They define morals as rules by which a society exhorts its members to do the right thing and laws as rules by which a society compels its members to do the right thing. They mention as a remarkable example, the Jews who without a state structure for 16 centuries maintain continuity and internal coherence and peace by a strict and detail moral code. Morals are not relative. Rather they are universal and necessary to a wholesome functioning individual and group. Progress in human civilization requires a high moral code. These thinkers recommend “love, sympathy, kindliness and cooperation” as the highest virtues a group could pursue. A flourishing human society will not otherwise be built. An atmosphere of violence and corruption is a lose-lose situation. The historical farce of soviet communism is a case in point.

The Durants take a different position from their contemporary concerning the place of Religion in human society. They are generally skeptical that morals and community can cohere without religious sanction. In their great studies of history they can find no significant examples of a society successfully maintaining moral life outside of a

religious sanction. Their study of 5000 years of human history reveals that religion confers meaning and dignity even upon the lowliest in human society. It gives stability to human life and solemnized human covenants with reference to God. A commitment to transcendent reality is an antidote to despair. A finite point without an infinite reference point has no meaning. This is the existential reality that has dogged modern secular societies. The Durants say that, “a cosmos without known cause or fate is an intellectual prison; we long to believe that the great drama has a just author and a noble end.”

Normally and generally men and woman in human society are judge by their ability to produce. This observation is only contradicted in times of war when they are judge by their ability to destroy. The Durants think that the concentration of wealth is natural and inevitable because it follows ability. It can, however, become an unstable and critical situation for a community or state. History has diversely met this challenge by legislation or by revolution. Legislation seems the wiser solution to this challenge as it is less disruptive to a society and leads to the redistribution of wealth. An ancient Greek, Salon, is designated a sage because he devise just such a legislative solution for the ancient Greek city-state of Athens. This legislative approach may also be seen in Great Britain. Whereas violent revolutions are disruptive to the public peace and merely succeed at redistributing poverty and destroying wealth. The Durants say that their


studies of history tell them that to break sharply with the past is to court the madness that follows the shock of sudden blows or mutilations. Like the sanity of an individual lies in the continuity of his memories so the sanity of a group lies in the continuity of its traditions. The Durants think that violent breaks invite neurotic reactions, massacres and like distortions and aberrations. Violent revolutions are in no one’s best interest except perhaps the sadists. Violent revolutions are rarely justified by history. But is the revolution as such ever of any value? The Durants response is yes if that revolution is the individual’s enlightenment of mind and the improvement of character. The real revolution then is the spiritual and intellectual ascent of individual men and women. The great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy said that, “everybody wants to change the world and nobody wants to change himself.”

The Durants are favorably disposed toward markets. They believed that markets, with proper institutional framework and legal structures, are a most just economic order for the exchange of goods and services. Markets put a premium on merit and make a continual demand for excellence. Markets are very productive. The horrific failure of Marxist experimentation has confirmed their considered judgment as sound. When a society is committed to the highest virtues of love, sympathy, kindliness, cooperation and compassion, it blunts the excesses of markets.

These thinkers are clairvoyant about so many things. Their discussion about

human freedom and government is very insightful. It is everywhere acknowledged by men and women that freedom is a great good. Yet the freedom of the individual in society requires some regulation of conduct. The Durants declared that the first condition of freedom is its limitation. If freedom is absolutize it will die in chaos. But this is where government factors in as a force for good order. Government, as an organized central force, is the sole alternative to incalculable and disruptive force in private hands. We in Liberia have had a firsthand experience of this observation. The Durants said that for most of human history monarchy has been the norm. They even point out some remarkable successes around the world. Plato’s philosopher-Kings were in fact realized in some places under some great monarchs where the happiness of the people was the sole object of the government. Yet democracy as a governmental form has come of age. It is not quite the same thing that Plato and Aristotle criticize in ancient Greece. It now benefits from the British heritage of laws defending citizens against the state, the advent of the Christian Church advocating religious and mental liberty and the transcendent dignity of the human person. These developments have not made democracy as a form of government less problematic. Democracy, to function well, still requires the widest spread of intelligence. Sovereignty and ignorance are not long married. Ignorance is not long enthroned for it lends itself to manipulation by public opinion. Overall though, the Durants think that democracy has done less


harm and more good than any other form of government. It has been robust, encouraging camaraderie and freedom in thought and life, science and enterprise. It has broken down the walls of privilege and class, and in each generation has raised up ability from every rank and place. Democracy has nurtured the most creative cities in the world. It has provided much abundance to those under its sway. Social scientists are fond of saying that famines do not happen in democracies. The Durants think that democracy is now embarked upon the spread and lengthening of education and the maintenance of public health. This assessment bears some resemblance to Amartya Sen’s thesis in his Development as Freedom. Nevertheless, the rights of man in a democracy are not the rights to office or power. Democracy still requires great leadership and considerable knowledge of statecraft.

By the Durant’s reckoning, in 3,421 years of recorded history, only 268 have seen no war. This is a poor record indeed. In spite of this sad record, war has been a potent source of ideas, inventions, institutions and states. Still war is not a good thing. War destroys the labor of centuries in building cities, creating art and developing habits of civilization. War makes for moral laxity, sexual excess and cynicism. For the Durants, peace in human history is an unstable equilibrium preserved only by an acknowledged supremacy or balance of power. But they are unwilling to let this historical reality be the last word on war and humankind. They insist that “there is something greater than history. Somewhere, sometime, in the

name of humanity, we must challenge a thousand evil precedents, and dare to apply the Golden Rule to nation” and we may add men and woman. The Durants saw war as essentially the affairs of states and did not sufficiently account for internecine violence, which is also capable of inflicting wholesale destruction to property and life. Violence of the group is but an extension of individual violence. Because the individual has cultivated a violent passion, we may expect no less from her community, institutions or states. But we may go further than the Durants and hope that grace, from a reality greater than humankind, may be granted to humanity to dissolve their violent passions.

At last the Durants address what perhaps, by now has become a pressing question: what is a civilization? The Durants are sufficiently broad in their thinking to take into their definition the varying manifestations of a civilized order. And so they have defined civilization as “a social order promoting cultural creation.” They unpack that definition further to say that it is a political order secured through customs, morals and laws. It is an economic order secured through the continuity of production and exchange. It is an order where cultural creation is nurtured and encouraged through freedom and facilities for origination, expression, testing and fruition of ideas, letters, manners and arts. A civilized order form an intricate and precarious web of human relationships, laboriously built and easily destroy. Indeed, it is always easier to destroy then to build.


The Durants observed that civilizations, like a human being, begin, flourish, decline and disappear. (Notice that they did not say die). According to them, “some civilizations do linger on as stagnant pools left by once life-giving streams.” Civilizations, in their understanding, come about from the degrees of kings and the customs of a people. Such a statement takes us all the way back to ancient Egypt and the Narmer Palette when Egypt became Egypt and remained so for 3,000 years. History is littered with the ruins of civilizations. They wondered aloud if death is the destiny of all? They are curious to know if there are any regularity in the process of growth and decay, anything that might be useful to us in our present circumstances. As was noted before, the Durants have concluded in favor of the central role played by the human actor as agent in the drama of history. Egypt is not the gift of the Nile, but the result of great leadership. The presence or absence of creative and initiative individuals with clarity of mind and energy of will capable of effective responses to new situation are key to the perpetuity of a civilized order. A group or civilization declines for the failure of its political or intellectual leaders to meet the challenges to change. The longest lived civilized order demanded superb leadership, disciplined organization, a common set of values, individual cooperation, dedication and sacrifice. Yet the Durants think that a civilization does not really die. It survives in the memory of the people, and in such abundance that no one life, however full and long, could absorb it all. Man as microcosm, carries with him his civilized order. While the Durant think

that they have a better understanding of why a civilization declines, they do not feel as confident about the energies and methods needed to spark a renewal. They could benefit from a profound reflection on the consequence of the theological virtues of hope and faith being cultivated and nurtured in the lives of men and women.

The Durants wondered about the reality of progress in our modern world. Has humanity really made great progress in the modern world? While acknowledging the many advantages of modern society, they are also keen to question its claims to be the most advanced expression of human civilized order that the world has ever known. Remarkably, the Durants are unwilling to grant science a place in this assessment. Science is not a panacea for human progress. Science, for them, is neutral. It has merely “enlarged our instrumentalities without improving our purposes.” Science has not clarified why we do what we do? As we commented, the great matter for modern secular societies is the question of meaning. The Durants wondered if past ages were not more advantaged to stress art and mythology rather than the present era focus on science and power. They also think that the moderns have essentially not succeeded in developing a natural ethic, that is, a moral code independent of religion. The general lament today is that the natural ethic is not thick and rich. Perhaps, modern secular societies have underestimated the relationship between meaning and motivation. The man may be too small to find life sustaining meaning in himself.


He is not sufficient unto himself. The Durants believe that modern natural ethic is not strong enough to keep “the human instincts of acquisition, pugnacity and sex from debasing civilization into a mire of greed, crime and promiscuity.” They are even skeptical about the modern value of tolerance seeing it as perhaps another form of ideological intolerance. They fear that modern society has allowed itself more freedom then it has the intelligence to digest. The essence of art and civilization is to replace chaos with order. They wondered if modern social experimentations have reached such a point that it threatens to replace order with chaos and so relapse into a confused and structureless decay.

But, being great thinkers, the Durants are also careful to deeply appreciate the very real advantages of modern society. We do live in an era of increasing abundance. They reckon that millions of men and women have reached mental and moral levels

rarely found in the past. Education is the way a civilization is transferred and perpetuated. And in education, modern society has done excellently by procuring unprecedented expenditure of wealth and toil to make available higher education for all. Civilization is not inherited but learned and earned by each succeeding generation. We of the modern era, having the advantage of hindsight and benefiting from those preceding us, are born into a richer heritage. The Durants believed that the accumulation of knowledge and art, even of our own era, support our being. To the extent that these cultural goods are received and celebrated, mankind is greater for it. The Durants leave us with the great task of transmitting this civilized legacy to our children. This is our great privilege, responsibility and high calling.

Go read the book. It is full of wisdom and the writing is exquisite.

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Marketplace Liberia - Amazon Web Servicesmediafiles.sagamoreinstitute.org.s3.amazonaws.com/... · A new generation of leaders is emerg-ing in Africa. These new policy makers, activists,