Embracing the ‘New Leaders’

The West’s early post-Cold War embrace of the leaders of Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda need to be understood in the context of the severe decline over previous decades in the socio-economic indicators of Sub-Saharan Africa. As readers are reminded in this chapter, the end of the ideological rivalry with Moscow was seen in terms of the triumph of the West’s political and economic values, one which could easily be exported. In Africa, popular demonstrations demanding the end of single-party rule and introduction of multi-party democracy showed a sea change was underway. The West believed that those figures who seemed to embrace such changes—such as the leaders of the three African countries who would come to be anointed as ‘new leaders’ and as representatives of the political liberalisation taking place—should be supported to introduce the necessary reforms. Early post-Cold War declarations by Washington, Paris and London on their aid policies firmly linked Western development assistance to the adoption of democratic reforms. Yet at the same time voices of caution warned of the dangers of Western ‘irrational exuberance’ in regard to the democratic credentials and intentions of such reformist figures in Africa.