Tuesday Morning Group ~ January 29, 2008

Leading Good Governance

Presenter: Chloe Schwenke, Ph.D.Washington, DC

• Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.

• Ethics lie at the heart of all human relationships and hence at the heart of the relationship between leaders and followers.• Joanne Ciulla

Presentation Summary

• A brief “worst case” ~ Somalia• Linking good governance to leadership

• Definitions• As essential to “good” governance• Some questions for USAID

• Leadership on the development agenda

• USAID program areas and leadership• Conclusions

Fieldtrip to a failure of ethical leadership ~ Somalia

• Can ethical leadership save Somalia from approaching a Hobbesian fate?

• Somalia:• An ethical vacuum ~ Traditional Somali

ethics and culture uprooted • Extremely weak leadership - in ethical terms

• The weak and vulnerable exploited• Even the code of the warrior is meaningless • Instead of fighting to protect and defend, leaders

and their warriors in Somalia have fought to exterminate

Governance and the moral duties of a state

• Where do Somalia’s leaders begin? • Stopping the bloodshed• Addressing technical and administrative

obligations • Addressing the moral priorities of human well

being and survival• Means and ends ~ governance is a

means, not an end• “The state exists to enable the individual to

realize the highest quality of life of which he or she is capable…”

• Aristotle

Quality of governance

• Measured by quality of life enjoyed by citizens• Leadership:

• Claim a sense of the public good• Build a deliberative society• Bridge across deep divisions• Offer hope

• Success directly linked to moral character and integrity of leaders, and their ability to build strong institutions• Institutions with leaders who articulate and model

moral values • Checks and balances (against periods of weak

leadership)

Defining leadership

• Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purpose.

• Leadership has two characteristics: • it is multidirectional, influence flows in all

directions and not just from the top down; and• it is noncoercive, it is not based on authority,

power, or dictatorial actions but is based on persuasive behaviors, thus allowing anyone in the relationship freely to argue or disagree and ultimately to drop into or out of the relationship.

• Joseph Rost

Leadership ≠ Management ≠ Rule

• Leaders exert influence to transform the status quo in a way that reflects the purposes that they hold mutually with their followers

• Managers are responsible for efficient and effective transactions, and operate in relationships based on authority.• Managers maintain the status quo.

• Rulers exert their will through force, fear, intimidation, exploitation, or deceitful manipulation to coerce others to achieve the ruler’s goals.

Political will

• “Political will is the level of commitment that the country – particularly, but not exclusively national government leaders – demonstrates to decentralization and the development of democratic local governance.”

• USAID Decentralization and Democratic Local Governance Programming Handbook, May 2000

• Does “commitment” = influence = transformation of the status quo?

• Is “political will” a good proxy for “ethical leadership”?

Some questions

• Whose “political will” is USAID seeking to support in its efforts to foster good governance?• Leaders?• Managers?• Rulers?

• Does answering “Good governance for who and what?” help to clarify what kind of, and whose, political will to pursue?• Means and ends• Supporting a shared vision of the public good,

or simply creating a secure strategic ally?

Leader? Manager? Ruler?

Amilcar Cabral

• Cosmopolitan, yet rooted in his cultural context• Product of both Bissau and Cape Verde• Strong, politically active family• First class education, widely traveled

• Influence ~ Outstanding personal attributes: intelligence, charm, athleticism, idealism, vision, humility

• Ethical orientation • Deep concern for plight of the poor• With Portuguese, resort to violence was a last choice

• Fatal flaw: inability to retain control of elite power base

Yoweri Museveni

• Non-elite upbringing, good education• Early political awakening advocating for grazing

rights of peasants• Attended University of Dar es Salaam

• Strong personal attributes: • Charm, charisma, intelligence, excellent memory,

visionary, disciplined, courageous, innovative• Exemplary early transactional leadership

• Provided security after years of turmoil• Introduced radical decentralization

• In power since 1986, but• Trending from early leadership to management

towards growing authoritarianism …rule

John Garang de Mabior

• Elite Dinka family, foreign education, widely traveled

• Career military officer, southern patriot• Active in the South’s first uprising in 1972• Led the 1983 uprising• Died in helicopter crash in 2005

• Courageous, strong, resourceful bush commander, intolerant of dissent, aloof, manipulative

• Focused on the ends - his personal vision - with little or no concern for the morality of the means• Serious human rights abuses• Exploited child soldiers

Where is “leadership”?

• If ethical leadership is so important, why isn’t it more prominent in development?• Political ramifications of “us” judging “their”

leadership ethics• Lack of familiarity with ethical analysis, and

fears of relativism• The Realist dismissal of ethics as irrelevant• Are current “leaders” the product of their

unethical political systems, or are these systems the products of their “leadership”?

• Can we groom leaders?• Can corrupt leaders be salvaged?

A new global focus on top leadership

• Global Integrity Alliance • Facilitated by the World Bank

• World Ethics Forum, Oxford, 2006• Paul Collier’s focus on “helping the heroes”• A growing literature on leadership: Joseph Rost,

Joanne Ciulla, James MacGregor Burns, Al Gini, Bernard Bass…• Leadership as influence• Transformational and transactional leaders• Followership• Character and virtue• Recognizing leadership throughout society, not just at

the top • Democratic principle of holding leaders accountable

USAID ~ A new global focus on top leadership?

• Small beginnings:• USAID a major donor for the World Ethics Forum of 2006 in

Oxford, England, that focused on ethical leadership• USAID Egypt : The Leadership for Education and

Development (LEAD) scholarship program, American University, Cairo

• Creation of an elite cadre of 54 students, all pledged to improve the lives of the people in their home regions.

• 4 components: academics; leadership; community involvement; ethics and values.

• Conference for Ministers of Local Government, Kigali, Rwanda: June 2005.

• Funded by UN, USAID, and the Netherlands, with delegations from DFID, GTZ, World Bank, CIDA, SDC, SIDA, and the EU.

• The focus included strengthening leadership integrity and ethics

Rule of Law

• Where is leadership?• “In Africa, there is great need for stronger

rule of law systems, but many African countries still lack sufficient political will for legal reform or judicial independence. This situation, sadly, is true in many countries around the world.”

• “The Agency supports CSOs whose advocacy efforts give voice to citizens and expand their influence on the political process.”

• “Political will is now widely recognized as an essential prerequisite for judicial reform.”

Elections and Political Processes

• Where is leadership? • “USAID programs are designed to help

ensure that elections are competitive and reflect the will of an informed citizenry.”

• “Election commissions may not yet exist or they may lack the technical capacity or political will to administer a fair election.”

• “Political parties in countries across the globe are viewed as distant, elite organizations unable or unwilling to articulate or represent most citizens’ concerns.”

Civil Society

• Where is leadership? • “As the nexus for participation in governance, civil

society is essential in a democracy for political expression and influencing government policy choices.”

• “The Agency supports these CSOs whose advocacy efforts give voice to citizens and expand their influence on the political process.”

•  ”Strengthening civil society is increasingly seen as a way to counterbalance the exercise of excessive authority by governments and economic and political elites, and as a way to encourage more open dialogue about public policy matters too often decided behind closed doors.”

Governance

• Where is leadership?• “In the past, governance issues were too often

tackled in a strictly technical way with attention paid solely to improvements in administration and service delivery in spite of the fact that political issues underlay the poor performance. The result was a lot of failed public administration, decentralization, and civil service reform projects.”

Conclusion

• Leadership as influence• Leadership as a moral relationship – high

expectations, high standards• Leadership and followership, one process• Leading “political will” with a shared vision• Leading advocacy on behalf of the public

will, the public concern• Transforming society and institutions beyond

“political issues”• Making the most of both transformational

and transactional (efficient) leadership• Finding ethical leaders and supporting them

Some Ways Forward

• An explicit focus in DRG programming on the qualities of ethical leadership• Foster local dialogue to articulate these values• Continue to support international dialogue on

universal traits of ethical leadership• Consider Paul Collier’s governance charters

• Training in ethical leadership• Celebrating and supporting ethical leaders• Holding bad leaders morally accountable

• Charles Taylor, Slobodan Milosevic• Joseph Kony