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The rise of the economic technocracy in Rwanda - A case of a bureaucratic pocket of effectiveness or state-building prioritisation?

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  • Benjamin Chemouni

Abstract

The Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) is recognised as the most effective organisation in the Rwandan state. The objective of the paper is to understand the organisational and political factors influencing MINECOFIN’s performance since the genocide and link them to the wider conversation on the role of pockets of effectiveness (PoEs) in state-building in Africa. It argues that, because of the Rwandan political settlement and elite vulnerability, MINECOFIN is not a PoE but only a good performer in a generally well functioning state. The Ministry overperforms first because, unsurprisingly, the nature of its tasks is specific, requires little embeddedness and allows a great exposure to donors, making its mandate easier to deliver in comparison to other organisations. MINECOFIN also performs better than other state organisations because it is, more than others, at the frontline of the elite legitimation project since it is the organisation through which resources are channelled, priorities decided, and developmental efforts coordinated. Given the rulers’ need for an effective state as a whole, MINECOFIN appears only as the lead climber in a wider dynamics of systematic state building.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Chemouni, 2019. "The rise of the economic technocracy in Rwanda - A case of a bureaucratic pocket of effectiveness or state-building prioritisation?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-120-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:bwp:bwppap:esid-120-19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Pritish Behuria & Tom Goodfellow, 2019. "Leapfrogging Manufacturing? Rwanda’s Attempt to Build a Services-Led ‘Developmental State’," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 581-603, July.
    3. Pritish Behuria, 2018. "Examining Effectiveness and Learning in Rwandan Policymaking: The Varied Outcomes of Learning from Failure in Productive Sector Policies," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1023-1043, August.
    4. Nilima Gulrajani & Willy McCourt & David K. Leonard, 2010. "‘Pockets’ of effective agencies in weak governance states: Where are they likely and why does it matter?," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(2), pages 91-101, May.
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    6. Sam Hickey, 2019. "The politics of state capacity and development in Africa - Reframing and researching ‘pockets of effectiveness’," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-117-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    7. Pritish Behuria, 2016. "Centralising rents and dispersing power while pursuing development? Exploring the strategic uses of military firms in Rwanda," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(150), pages 630-647, October.
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    9. Adrian Leftwich, 1994. "Governance, the State and the Politics of Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 363-386, April.
    10. Pritish Behuria & Tom Goodfellow, 2019. "Correction to: Leapfrogging Manufacturing? Rwanda’s Attempt to Build a Services‑Led ‘Developmental State’," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 703-703, July.
    11. Tom Lavers, 2016. "Understanding elite commitment to social protection: Rwanda’s Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-068-16, GDI, The University of Manchester.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian Heinen, 2022. "Rwanda’s Agricultural Transformation Revisited: Stagnating Food Production, Systematic Overestimation, and a Flawed Performance Contract System," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(10), pages 2044-2064, October.

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