ShittyBeatlesFCPres , 4 hours ago

In so many ways, Kagame is one of the rare “benevolent dictators” but one of the reasons that concept is often used sarcastically is because no matter how benevolent, any autocratic leader makes it nearly impossible to build up civil society and institutions — including opposition parties — that need to be in place for who (or, potentially, what chaos) follows.

If you told the world that Rwanda would be stable, safe, and relatively prosperous after arguably the most brutal modern genocide, everyone would have taken that deal. Maybe this is the only way it would have happened. But autocratic leaders have a tendency to stay on too long at the expense of long term stability.