Every country, nation and continent across the world has its own history. That history could be bad or good, according to what happened in that country or continent. Thus, the history of many countries and continents across the world was characterized by internal conflicts, quarrels, disputes, aggressions, wars etc..among its population or by external conflicts or wars against other countries. The impact and consequences of these conflicts and wars were so many and were mostly negative. Indeed, the African continent especially the great lake region has experienced up to now internal and external conflicts and wars. These repetitive internal and external
conflicts and wars have negative impacts on the development of those countries. For example Burundi has internal conflicts between Tutsi and Hutu and is involved in an external conflict (war) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C). Uganda is also fighting against the rebels in the North and it is also fighting in the D.R.C. Thus, Rwanda as a country located in Africa, moreover situated in the great lake region has not escaped the internal and external conflict and wars. The history of Rwanda is characterized by different wars since the time of its expansion up to the recent different ethnic wars (1959 , 1960, 1962, 1963, 67, 73 and the genocide of 1994) . The impact of these repetitive wars especially the genocide on Rwanda's socio-economic, cultural, administrative, political, development was so wide and negative. The researcher's contribution through this research consisted in identifying what the impact of national unity has had on sustainable development in Rwanda after seven years in power of the so-called "government of national unity" . Rwandan politicians, the ordinary population or friends of Rwandans together should stand up to fight for building and consolidating the national unity of Rwanda.
This research had aimed to identify and to clarify what impact national unity in
Rwanda has had on sustainable development, after the genocide of 1994.
The research had also as specific objectives to:
* Verify if there is national unity in Rwanda;
* Identify the different factors that influence national unity in Rwanda;
* Verify if the Rwandan administrative system allows sustainable
Development;
* Identify the factors that influence sustainable development in Rwanda;
* Identify the impact that national unity has on sustainable development in
Rwanda;
*Propose recommendations.
This study also aimed to answer four complementary questions not isolated
variables. Each allowed one to explain the other and vice versa.
These questions are:
• Is there national unity present in Rwanda?
• Which basic factors for national unity were in Rwanda?
• Does the Rwandan administrative system allow sustainable development?
• What were the factors in favour of sustainable development present in
Rwanda?
• What was the impact of national unity on sustainable development present
in Rwanda?
However, the probable answers to the above questions constitute the hypotheses of
the research. These are as follows:
• There is a unity among Rwandans.
• Rwandan national unity is influenced by political, social, economic and
demographic factors.
• The Rwandan administrative system allows sustainable development.
• The democratic state, the state based on the rule of law, media freedom and
the people's participation in national planning are the factors that influence
sustainable development positively;
• The impact of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda is
measured by the improvement or positive social, economic and political
change that can be noticed in Rwanda after the genocide of 1994.
• National security, peace, good governance, popular education are the other
ingredients for sustainable development in Rwandan.
For the methodological framework, the researcher used different methods and
techniques. So far, historico-comparative, systemic, structural-functionalist and
dialectic methods have been used. Documentary research and investigation (enquiry)
by questionnaire and interviews with interview-guide have been used as techniques
for collecting data in the field. All interviews were tape recorded. The research is
delimited in space and time. In space, the study is limited to the country of Rwanda.
In time the delimitation of the study starts from 1994 (after the genocide) up to now.
However, running the research all over the country was quite impossible, because of
the lack of money and time. So far the representative sample of politicians, the
military, journalists, civil and public societies and the ordinary people within five
provinces have been chosen as a sample and were taken as the respondents.
In this research, all objectives were reached and hypotheses accepted or confirmed.
The theoretical framework of the research explored precisely the theme of national
unity for sustainable development in general and in Rwanda in particular.
The first part of the study is composed of the general introduction, methodology,
literature review and the theoretical framework. The literature review defines different
concepts and key words relative to unity and sustainable development that will be
used in the research. It gives the sources, typologies and forms of conflicts, defines
wars and their impact, typology of violence, peace, sustainable development and the
issues of unity and development in Rwanda. The theoretical framework defines
different theories of conflict, cohesion, democratic peace and development. The
second part of the study concerns the exploration of the topic "The impacts of national
unity on sustainable development in Rwanda". Done within a sociological framework,
the study has reached sufficient results.
Regarding the hypotheses, which are subject to verification, the responses from all
sampled provinces are in agreement and therefore confirm the hypotheses. Regarding
the hypothesis of the need for a "democratic state, state based on the rule of law,
media freedom and the participation of people in national planning are imperative for
sustainable development"; this was confirmed by 64,4% of the politicians, 72,4% of
representatives of the military, journalists, civil and public societies and 63,5% of the
ordinary population. The respondents stated that presently Rwanda is slowly
becoming a democratic state, with the application of the rule of law and media
freedom. However, they also mentioned that peoples' participation in national
planning is still at the lower stage.
All respondents confirmed that Rwandan national unity facilitates, promotes and
encourages the bilateral collaboration between people, between people and authorities
and between authorities themselves. The involvement and participation of the people
in national planning and protection of national developmental project for future
generation; lead to sustainable development. They also confirmed that the Rwandan
national unity has improved and influenced positively Rwandan social, economic and
political systems.
Lastly, good governance, security, peace, unity and popular education were also cited
as the other ingredients of national unity and sustainable development. From this
study one can see that national unity in Rwanda has a positive impact on sustainable
development, and all factors have played their role.
The consequences of Rwandan conflicts are:
1. Social;
2. Economic;
3. Political;
4. Judicial.
Indeed, after conducting this research, the researcher acquired a technical experience
about dealing with people, and authorities. The researcher has verified that the
quantitative (with questionnaire) technique that was used, reached limited results.
With direct questions that held different possibilities of responses, the respondents
had a tendency to give suggested responses, which responses are not often in
correspondence with what they feel exactly.
However, with the qualitative research (direct interviews with a tape recorder) and the
researcher's experience of being a Rwandan who had lived in the country before,
during and after the genocide allowed one to collect different information that allowed
one to verify the hypothesis.
That experience allowed the researcher to collect rich and viable information on the
impact of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/3676 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Rutayisire, Justin. |
| Contributors | Nadasen, K. K., Stears, Louw-Haardt. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
Page generated in 0.049 seconds