Rhetorical legacies of leadership: projections of ‘benevolent leadership’ in pre- and post-genocide Rwanda

Abstract

Comparing pre- and post-genocide Rwanda, this article argues that clear continuities exist between the regimes of Juvénal Habyarimana and Paul Kagame. Both have projected a remarkably similar image of ‘benevolent leadership’. Presenting themselves as harbingers of an ‘improved’ or ‘new’ Rwanda, both leaderships have claimed to be best able and willing to guide Rwanda along the right path to peace, security, ethnic unity and development. ‘Benevolent leadership’ in both periods has also served as a tool to try and shape regime relationships with international and domestic audiences. Internationally, each government has worked to promote Rwanda and its authorities as a good development partner. Domestically, these projections have served to establish norms of order and obedience. We argue that projections of ‘benevolent leadership’ have been a tool designed to win over the international community and discipline the Rwandan population.

Planning and development regulation amid rapid urban growth: Explaining divergent trajectories in Africa

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Rwandan “home grown initiatives”: Illustrating inherent contradictions of the democratic developmental state

“…As noted, there are also divergent views on development achievements. While international donors are largely favourable, commending Rwanda for the use of aid resources and the results achieved (DFID, ; UNDP, ; World Bank, ), numerous scholars warn that deteriorating rural living conditions and extreme inequality will lead to polarization (Desrosiers & Thomson, ; Hintjens, ).…”

“…Other scholars, meanwhile, do not see the exclusionary, top‐down nature of Rwandan policies as contributing to development. Apart from poor political governance, they are concerned about severe inequality and worsening rural living conditions (Desrosiers & Thomson, ; Purdeková, ; Ansoms, ; Hintjens, ; Pritchard, ). Efforts are increasingly being made to balance the polarized views, with Harrison () providing a moderately favourable assessment of the Rwandan model, pointing to the lack of viable alternatives.…”

Rwanda's Vision 2020 halfway through: what the eye does not see

“…Since the elections, the attacks and pressure on opposition parties have continued, in spite of Paul Kagame's re-election as head of state with 93% of the vote (Reyntjens 2011a). An often-used tool to silence dissident voices is to accuse them of 'ethnic divisionism' and 'genocide ideology', both of which are punishable under the 2003 revised constitution (Desrosiers andThomson 2011, Waldorf 2011) and a 2008 law prescribing sentences of between 10 and 50 years (Waldorf 2011).…”

“…In fact several international donors, injecting major aid funds into the Rwandan state budget, are reinforcing the current tendency by adopting a 'narrowly defined technocratic vision of monitoring and evaluation' (Holvoet and Rombouts 2008, p. 577). At the same time, they have refrained from criticising the political governance aspects out of a historically rooted sense of guilt (see Desrosiers and Thomson 2011) that has been cleverly amplified through the current regime's spin (Reyntjens 2011a). Instead, international donors should make more pressing demands for channels that allow silenced voices from below to be heard.…”