Blind Spot by Jon Clifton

Author:Jon Clifton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gallup; wellbeing; well-being; happiness; unhappiness; global leadership; behavioral economics; five elements of wellbeing; world poll; hunger; loneliness; women’s health; safety; pandemic; Gallup World Poll; gross national happiness; global pandemic; emotions; global emotions; feelings; communities; jobs; jobs crisis; mental health; GDP; rise of unhappiness; wellbeing inequality; income inequality; great life; work wellbeing; financial wellbeing; community wellbeing; physical wellbeing; social wellbeing; economy; world happiness report; life ratings; life evaluation; thriving; struggling; suffering; enjoyment; learning or doing something interesting; feeling well-rested; smiling and laughing; feeling treated with respect; anger; stress; sadness; physical pain; worry; unemployment; employment
Publisher: Gallup Press

Do you have confidence in each of the following, or not? How about …? Percentage responding yes. 2019.

Source: Gallup

Image description for Confidence in Governmental Institutions

Rwanda is No. 1 in every category. There appears to be universal agreement that each aspect of the government is functioning well. And this is what Rwandans report every single year.

We even asked specifically about you, Mr. President: “Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of President Paul Kagame?” The last time we did the survey, all 1,000 of the people we interviewed said they approved of your job performance. Again, this is highly unusual. This is also the highest approval rating for any leader we have ever recorded.

You are familiar with these trends. When Fareed Zakaria interviewed you on CNN in 2012, you used these figures to defend yourself from his inquiry about whether Rwanda’s tremendous progress was “done with the absence of democracy.”

ZAKARIA: There is the perception that while you have been able to institute a very good sense of rule of law in Rwanda, economic growth, it has all been done with the absence of democracy. The way “The Economist”, which praises Rwanda in its article puts it, the elections are a sham. Many people feel that your party has extraordinary and unfair advantages over other parties.

KAGAME: Well, it is said like that from the outside. When you come to the country, the situation is entirely different. And in fact even partly from outside, if you look at, say, the Gallup polls that have recently been carried out in Rwanda on everything, they show the confidence that people have in the institutions, people have in the government. They all score above 85 percent. Better than you can witness in any African country or even other countries outside. This is ...

ZAKARIA: But you understand the suspicion people have. You win the elections with 95 percent of the vote. I mean--

KAGAME: Yes.

ZAKARIA: That’s the kind of margin that Mubarak used to win with in Egypt.

KAGAME: Right.

ZAKARIA: And so at least people think either you are wildly popular ...

KAGAME: Yes.

ZAKARIA: … or there’s something going on.

KAGAME: You see, but that’s where the problem is. Those judging from outside would never accept that there is an issue of popularity in Rwanda or in Africa. Whenever that issue comes up, of popularity, they call it a dictatorship. They think popularity is a preserve of developed countries. But in other situations, leaders can be popular and unpopular.

ZAKARIA: And popular is one thing, but winning 95 percent of the vote is another.

KAGAME: Absolutely. But you see, you have to put all matters in context. If you take it out of context, then you lose the point. One, I have told you about outsiders coming to the country and assessing the feelings of the citizens of our country. Which they have interacted with independently and at all levels, the score is very high. This is a practical thing, this is a fact. Now, the other is in that context, you have to know where Rwanda is coming from.

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