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SUMMARY:Lunchtime Seminar - The contradictions of the authoritarian develo
 pmental state: energy boom and bureaucratic autonomy in Rwanda - Dr Benjam
 in Chemouni\, JRF Wolfson College\, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow\, Depar
 tment of Politics and International Studies
DTSTART:20191023T120000Z
DTEND:20191023T130000Z
UID:TALK130630@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:68953
DESCRIPTION:Scholars have typically explained variations of the developmen
 tal performance of authoritarian states by focussing on state-society and 
 state-business relations\, devoting relatively limited attention to the re
 gime’s internal decision-making dynamics. This article contributes to ad
 dressing this gap. It demonstrates the significance of internal regime dyn
 amics between politicians and bureaucrats as a factor explaining states’
  ability to create functioning economic development. Through the case of t
 he electricity sector of an aspiring developmental state\, Rwanda\, it sho
 ws that\, while a strongly centralised developmental state\, backed by pyr
 amidally-focused power\, can deliver rapid implementation\, it also inhere
 ntly produces economically-wasteful\, even developmentally-detrimental\, o
 utcomes. By hindering critical thinking\, it created an electricity produc
 tion system poorly attuned to Rwanda’s energy demand profile and made Rw
 anda’s energy generation prohibitively costly\, even in the African cont
 ext. We thus argue that a more accurate understanding of bureaucratic capa
 city should clearly include power relations between the rulers and the sta
 te.
LOCATION:Combination Room\, Wolfson College
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