The Comparative Role of Political Leadership in Alleviating Conflict

Abstract

This chapter argues the importance of leadership in alleviating conflicts against backdrop of South African apartheid system and the Rwandan genocide. It compares the leadership of former South African president Nelson Mandela and Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda. Gardner distinguished between transactional and transformational leadership. With transactional leadership, a leader engages in an exchange process, as noted by Saundra. In transactional leadership, there is an exchange of valued things, scarce commodities, or resources. Transformational leadership is more emotion based than transactional leadership and involves a heightened emotional level. The term ‘transformational leadership’ was devised by Downton in 1973. Kagame outlawed ethnicity-based discrimination and instituted Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the societal division. The focus was on bringing perpetrators of genocide to justice. The transition period, marked by a government of national unity (even if short-lived), was a demonstration of political inclusion and cooperation between previous adversaries and, in retrospect, probably a useful strategy to enhance peace and mutual accommodation.