Africa: Rwanda's Model of Democracy

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Few would disagree that Rwanda's progress in the post genocide period is credited to its unconventional approach to statecraft. That there was a heavy dose of trial and error especially in the early days and that gradually as success became predictable it removed whatever element of chance. And that in turn, this helped to build a degree of confidence that helps to inform decision-making to this day. What is unfortunate is that almost nothing has been written about these unconventional methods and how they shaped how Rwandan's came to think of who they are as a people and what their place in the world is.

Consider democracy. Our understanding of democracy in Rwanda is largely informed by foreigners. They tell us what our political system is and its intentions. Often we disagree with them. We think that they are distorting our reality in ways that seek to transpose their way of life onto our imagination.

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