Premium
Rwandan “home grown initiatives”: Illustrating inherent contradictions of the democratic developmental state
Author(s) -
Hasselskog Malin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
development policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.671
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1467-7679
pISSN - 0950-6764
DOI - 10.1111/dpr.12217
Subject(s) - contradiction , citizen journalism , democracy , state (computer science) , developmental state , participatory development , participatory democracy , participatory action research , political science , economic growth , sociology , political economy , public administration , politics , law , economics , epistemology , philosophy , algorithm , computer science
The 21st‐century developmental state is envisaged as implying democratic participation. Rwanda both explicitly aspires to follow the developmental state example and eloquently ascribes to far‐reaching participatory ideals, and a number of development programmes, “home grown initiatives,” have been launched, allegedly reviving traditional participatory practices. Based on original material, this article analyzes local experiences of the participation entailed in some of these programmes. In the conclusion, the poor practice of participation reported is found to point to inherent contradiction of the idea of a democratic and participatory version of the developmental state.