Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Many African governments have adopted policies recommended by international organizations like investment in IT and gender equality with the idea that apart from their social, economic and financial benefits, they will empower people to pressure governments for positive change. However, despite statistical evidence that there have been great strides in implementing these two policies, a considerable number of people in Africa are still living under poor conditions. Countries like Rwanda and Burundi, for example, with strong global rankings in political empowerment of women are way behind in development indices. We theorize that the “entitlement attitude towards power” found in many African governments diminishes adherence to public pressure and creates an imbalance in the power dynamics between the people and the government. By “entitlement attitude” we mean the absence of obligation among leaders to serve the interests of the public. This absence of obligation is due to heavy reliance on the military or reliance on external funding other than local revenue which makes public pressure less effective.