The Ideal Statesman in a Third World Setting

I wish all Third World leaders were like Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, who, in a little over a decade, managed to turn ethnic-torn Rwanda into a stable, prospering African country. (I still have vivid memories of those horrid photos of machete-wielding soldiers killing indiscriminately, dumping bodies into rivers that turned red with blood in a country torn by racial hatred. No less than 800,000 lives were lost in this ethnic strife between the Tutsis and the Hutus).

In Kagame is the embodiment of what Plato would call the meeting of philosophy and politics, of theory and practice, as that which leads to the best regime. Except that this philosopher-king did not learn his philosophy from books. His life was his philosophy. Having learned up close about the irrationalities and cruelties that human beings are capable of, he has employed his political power wisely when he became president, and has governed in the interest of all Rwandans.

This he has achieved by opening up his country to private foreign investments. In this WSJ interview, he offers important insights into his vision and governance that other leaders should emulate.

Sometimes all it takes for a poor, fledgling country to move forward is to be led by one good leader who gets it right, an elected "enlightened monarch," chosen by a people who, in the process, also become wise. A rarity indeed, an accident almost, except that it is already happening in Rwanda.