Why Is Rwanda Colonized

as giving them positions of power over the majority of the population despite only representing a small portion. This discrepancy in treatment only served to create more tension between the two people, dividing them further, which in time will become one of the main starting factors for the Rwandan genocide. In addition, since the countries in power only meant to extract from the countries they colonized, there was a substantial lack of governmental infrastructure set in place to actually aide in the improvement of said countries. This lack of governmental infrastructure meant that once many of these colonized countries gained independence, often through violence and unrest, they were presented with a governmental system with no infrastructure
Rwanda, being a landlocked country, by definition has already been placed in the “bad neighbor trap” meaning that the economic growth of the country has already been throttled via the lack of international trade. This lack of trade meant that despite having the natural resources Rwanda was forced to trade either with its adjacent neighbors or make a long and costly intercontinental journey to gain access to a coastline port, something most of the population could not afford. Therefore despite Rwanda having a high population density, without access to international trade much of the population found themselves in deep poverty, this poverty and unrest would soon become one of a few catalysts to the Rwanda genocide. As the unrest throughout Rwanda grew, the country was also falling into the next of Collier’s traps, the “bad government trap”. Despite gaining independence from Belgium, much of the government of Rwanda was corrupt, Habyarimana forcibly took control of the government in 1973, established himself as a dictator and the country fell under authoritarian rule. With the ever increasing unrest due to inhumane living conditions and the introduction of a Hutu president the country quickly began to turn on the once favored Tutsis aided in part
If a country desires to succeed and prosper within the confines of these potential traps it is absolutely imperative that the government has as little corruption within it as possible. This minimization of corruption is why democracy is so important for African countries like Rwanda. Democracy, as defined by Nic Cheeseman, is a system of government in which there is a stable multi-party system which has found a working balance between active political competition and political inclusion. This idea of democracy, when done correctly, can allow a country to stop pre-existing corruption within the government by voting those in power out of office, as well as allow the country to be proactive in preventing corrupt leaders stepping into power by holding true democratic elections so that the leadership of the country reflects those living in it. True democracy like the one Cheeseman describes opens up a political discourse with the population of the country, allowing them to place people into power who, unlike those appointed by the colonizing countries years ago, would focus on the improvement and wellbeing of the country and the people inside it. While it is not a cure all for every country in