CORRELATING LEADERSHIP, GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT

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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL/EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORKS

Introduction

In this chapter, I developed definitions, arguments, as well as analytical and conceptual frameworks pertaining to the theory of personification. I highlighted that this theory fosters an understanding on how cognitive development, social interactions and ecological factors shape an individual’s behavioural inclination, which in turn determines the individual’s leadership trajectory. Likewise, I argue that this theory enabled readers to comprehend how a personified disposition in national leaders (or citizens) affects their ability to implement egalitarian governance and development programmes. From this theory, I then derived a testable proposition on personified behavioural disposition in national leaders. Subsequently, I analysed literature to determine the effects of leadership actions on including citizens in national governance and development. I then concluded by ascertaining the role of citizens’ in mitigating or catalysing the emergence of personified national systems.
Ultimately, I rationalised that the theory of personification enables citizens and other stakeholders to understand their leaders better, to the extent that they could participate more productively in national governance and development. Accordingly, Chapter Two started with a detailed analysis on the theory of personification to set a foundation for subsequent discussions. In succeeding paragraphs, I correlated the theory of personification with personality psychology, development philosophy, and finally, the concept of leadership. I deliberately elected these themes because this study theorised that personality traits determine leader development over time. Similarly, I reasoned that the predictive power of personality psychology also correlates with national development. This chapter ended with a brief conclusion on the discussions and provided a synoptic indication of the ensuing literature.

Theoretical and empirical dimensions of the theory of personification

Despite the significance of the theory of personification, there is limited or no reference in social research literature to how personified systems relate to national governance and development. While a few researchers have made credible attempts to discuss personality concepts and personalised leadership, none of them explained the subject of personified leadership within the context of this study. However, this study hypothesised that personality, a component of the theory of personification denotes the manner in which individual’s reason, comprehend and respond relative to the external domain. Conversely, personified policies that are antecedent to personalised systems constitute the primary impediment to positive governance and development outcomes. However, the above hypotheses required a correlation with the concept of leadership to comprehensively exemplify the theory of personification. In the process of assembling relevant literature on personified leadership, I observed that scholars frequently encountered a broad, and at times, very perplexing corpus of literature that exemplifies the complexities in analysing national leadership. By the time of this research, no theory had yet captured holistic national leadership dynamics to the extent that it is empirically relatable to this study. It is even more frustrating to interested parties like citizens and other stakeholders that existing attempts to explain leadership theories are largely marginal, disparate and contradictory. This study therefore established an analytical and theoretical framework to discuss issues pertaining to how personified leadership relates with governance and development in order to plug the gaps in literature.
In subsequent paragraphs, I presented an overview of the proposed theory of personification. I then explored key concepts that constitute building blocks of this theory. The process entailed conceptualising why incumbent national leaders in East Africa assume personified, rather than citizen-driven, development policies; how personified leaders influence governance and development policies in East Africa, and the extent to which East African citizens influence national governance and development policies under personified leaders. Furthermore, the study drew on the operational definitions of the key terms including: personify, policy, governance, development, acquiesced citizens, leadership and impersonation in section 1.8, to build up arguments in the analytical and conceptual framework. In Chapter Three, I utilised philosophical concepts of governance and development to strengthen my discussions in Chapter Four on the empirical conducts of personification. Fundamentally, Chapters Three and Four link the theories covered in this study to practical experiences using Kenya and Rwanda as case studies.
There have been several studies that have examined the complex interplay between national leadership, governance and development. However, the impact of personified leadership on the above factors in the EAC, or anywhere else, is not well developed or is completely lacking in the literature. Therefore, this thesis proposes a conceptual framework to fill this gap. In this respect, I developed inferences, conclusions and recommendations based on the conceptualization and a review of literature regarding four theoretical fields namely: leadership, personality psychology, governance and development to address the knowledge gap. I included personality psychology because it brings to the fore the intrinsic factors that motivate the actions of leaders and their follower alike. In this context, I proposed a multidisciplinary conceptual framework that highlights the occurrence and dynamics entailed in personified leadership, governance and development.
The framework I proposed hinges on three main concepts:
a) The first concept is that leadership is a phenomenon that stems from perspectives a leader develops at childhood formative stages that external influences later reinforce in life. Eventually, these influences define whether the relationship a leaders has with followers are collaborative, passive or conflicting. In this context, leaders enjoy a mutually commutative influencing relationship with their followers. Essentially, both leaders and their followers both wield legitimate and illegitimate positional powers. Thus, whereas the leader’s authority to act is based on a constitution, a decree or brute force, egalitarian or selfish interests drive the motivations behind either action. In other words, leaders may choose to include or exclude citizens in participating in national discourses; however, the leader retains the final verdict over the decision-making process. I maintain that insight or advice from experts or institutions usually back an incumbent leader’s decisions. Once egocentrism perpetually blocks the leader’s discretionary vision, the phenomenon this study labels “personified leadership” kicks in. Once personification sets in, the leader systematically takes over decision-making processes in all national institutions. Over time, these institutions start echoing the essential character of the leader. Conversely, this study theorizes that depending on their interests, citizens have a role in perpetuating or mitigating personified leadership. In due course, citizens become acquiesced to personified leadership dispensations which ‘overpowers’ the citizens using coercive means, including disenfranchisement. The ultimate catalytic effect of personified leadership is poor national governance that ultimately compromises state institutions and diminishes development outcomes.
b) The second concept is the subject of national governance within the context of personification. In most articulations, the terms “government” and “governance” are alternately used to signify the exercise of authority in any designated domain, for instance, an institution or state. As signified above, the conceptualization of the term ‘governance’ is deemed too confusing, a factor that has reduced the term to a buzzword in various circles. In order to enhance its unrestricted applicability to wide-ranging parameters, the prefix “good” is attached to “governance”, to read ‘good governance.’ This also has now become a contestable mantra alluding to good conduct of governmental and bureaucratic processes. The above discussions highlight the knowledge gap in conceptualizing the term ‘governance.’ In this respect, I have reviewed the different aspects of the theory of governance in order to unravel empirical support for the term in the literature. Furthermore, this study attempts to provide a functional definition of the word ‘governance’ as the conscious exercise of conferred (or inferred) authority, whether individual or collective to lead, control and steer directions and decisions of society and institutions. The underlying factor in this definition is the hypothesis that governance assumes multiple ‘structural and procedural’ dimensions depending on the objectives and actions of the person(s) in control.
Unfortunately, literature often ignores the motivating factor behind leaders who determine governance outcomes. Whereas available literature on governance competently illustrates particular modes of governance, there is still a significant gap in the demonstration of the longitudinal impact of personified leadership on various modes of governance. Accordingly, this thesis provides a conceptual framework to analyse and conceptualise the inherent dynamics in countries struggling to establish democratic systems but is challenged by the personified mode of governance. Furthermore, this study opens up avenues for new research by concurrently analysing the paradoxical impacts of personified governance in light of its positive and negative impacts on national development. This conceptual framework provides a contextual perspective when analysing empirical dimensions of personified governance later in this study. Contemporary debates on alternative modes of governance underscore the ineptitude of nations to develop objective policies largely due to loss of institutional independence. This study recognizes this gap, and the need to address the vulnerability of governance institutions that the researcher attributes to personified leadership. To this end, this framework provides a means to understand the complex labyrinth of interactions between national governance institutions, non-state actors and citizens, all of whom contribute to governance. Thus, it is apparent that the principal component in any governance system is the reciprocal unencumbered respect in the relationships among actors. Unfortunately, we note the absence of mutual respect in many governance frameworks in East Africa resulting in conflict between the actors involved.
Therefore, this theoretical framework on governance identifies a good-practice relationship between national leaders and governance institutions, whose conceptualization will go unnoticed without this study. Ultimately, this thesis develops a framework of governance for policy analysis, based on the accessible literature, which can be beneficial in advancing national development. In trying to develop a pragmatic testable hypothesis of governance, I encountered a complex interplay of factors that shed more light on why certain critics feel ‘governance’ is a fluid concept.
c) The third concept is the subject of national development within the context of personification. This conceptual analysis traces the major concepts of development in order to build the theoretical framework of personified development. The methodology I have applied in this study covers literature review, data analysis and synthetization of data categories to deduce similar meanings and themes that will result in the creation of independent concepts on the subject of development. This study conceptualizes that national governance has causal effect on national development. By theoretical deduction, I argue that national leaders have a direct influence on governance and development outcomes. Despite its significance, there is limited or no literature linking a leaders’ cognitive development process to national development outcomes. Kaufmann (noted in Grindle, 2007:4), corroborates my argument in asserting that “the link between governance and development is more than correlational, rather, it is causal since good governance makes development possible.” I postulate that the use of the term ‘good governance’ in relation to development means that in the minimum, some singular or several actions need to be wholesome and appropriate for development to occur. I attribute the assurance of these ‘good’ actions to national leaders who hold the final verdict in national decision-making. In yet another complex interplay of concepts, this study investigates the intrinsic factors that inspire national leadership action(s) on development through governance as a transitional conduit. However, a critical review of the diverse literature on development reveals lack of a comprehensive conceptual framework for understanding the intricacies of personified development.
Accordingly, this study synthesises the interdisciplinary literature on national development theories and empirical works, and then uses conceptual analysis to tease-out patterns and similarities within the literature. Subsequently, I applied conceptual labels in order to interpret the data and derive arguments, conclusions and recommendations. In this respect, I reviewed competing theories of development in order to comprehend various development processes with the aim of motivating discussions on diverse development challenges. I began by reviewing structural change theories and then transition to classical development theories in order to juxtapose their arguments on resource management economic investments and institutional frameworks with the theory of personification. I rationalized why the theory of personification provides a more comprehensive outlook of development over and above the structural and classical theories. I then embarked on exploring international relations theories to comprehend how nation states behave and interact in an international setting. Because of its key role in international relations, I successively reviewed political theories in order horn in on how individuals are organised politically across different configurations of power. Whereas both international relations and political theories furnished me with a wealth of information on how actors behaved on unique local and international settings, the theories came short in describing personification within the same contextual settings.
Subsequent to the above, I analysed policy theories in the quest to understand how actors make, influence or are influenced by ‘courses of action.’ I provided a rational synopsis of policy theories in terms of its complexity and diversity in light of its enabling potential for implementation or mitigating role. Despite the limitations, the reviewed theories face at conceptualization, each analysis offered me commendable insights into policy implementation processes. From the foregoing, I offer an assessment of the benefits, costs, and risks of these theories. I also explored the implications of these frameworks on governance and development. The theories were also instrumental in highlighting the extent of leadership influence on policy institutions and on the other hand, modelling citizen amenability to policy decisions, and the overall impacts of those decisions. I then embarked on analysing demographic theories that integrate several theoretical concepts into a dynamic framework. My analysis spanned across local and international socio-economic and political forces that influence three cardinal demographic processes namely: fertility, mortality, and migration. I hoped to conceptualise the extent to which demographic theories have predictive value on the processes that shape national development in developing countries. However like other previous theories, the analysis of demographic theories was equally fraught with shortcomings; for instance, there is no conceptual rationalization on how fertility results in a demographic transition. Conversely, the theory of personification attempted to re-interpret and conceptualise various demographic concepts in order to address the gaps presented by shortcomings in theories.
As is evident from the above discussions, the analysed theories and literature pose more questions than answers. In this regard, the theory of personification offers alternative conceptualization to address the gap in literature unravelled in the review. Thus, the main building blocks of the conceptual framework on ‘personification’ are actors, their stakes and the relative power they exert to pursue these interests, as well as the institutions and systems in which these actors operate. The specific building blocks consist of governance frameworks, development contexts, government institutions, national leaders, citizens and the international community.

Unravelling the epitome of personification

The Free Dictionary online (2016) defined ‘epitome’ as a representative or perfect example of a class or type. Likewise, The Cambridge Dictionary online (2016) defined the epitome of something as the “typical or highest example of a stated quality, as shown by a particular person or thing.” The Urban Dictionary (2016) provided the most contextually relevant definition of ‘epitome’ as being a perfect example of a certain quality someone, or something that « personifies » this said quality. Accordingly, this section delineated distinctive subjects, on the subject of personification, to illustrate the ‘perfect example’ of certain leadership qualities. In so doing, this study tried to understand how we could measure and perhaps project specific leadership behaviour. The researcher also explained what behaviours are associated with personified leadership. Halpin (1956:172) argued that if we concentrate on analysing how leaders behave under different situations, we would substantially enrich our understanding of leadership phenomena. Halpin maintained that it is not easy to accomplish this shift in viewpoint, because many beliefs that were not in accord with behavioural facts encumbered our ways of thinking about « leadership.” In addition, Halpin posited that the term ‘leadership’ evoked strong personal views that were sentimental, and this further complicated the dilemma associated with the concept. According to Halpin, to be a leader is « good » and therefore it is good to lead, so he argued that everyone should visualise himself or herself as a leader. In this respect, Halpin argued that, instead of applying scientific rigour, most people tended to verbalise leadership largely as a catchphrase. Halpin (1956:172) underscored the point that the ambiguity of our definitions of the term ‘leadership’ limited our use of this term to ‘a rallying cry.’ In consonance with Halpin’s views, I attempt to unravel and expound on the ‘value-laden’ concept of personified leadership. This section ultimately guides the reader to conceptualise more absorbingly, the aggregate impact of personified leadership on critical national pillars of governance and development.

CHAPTER ONE OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Problem statement
1.3 Research questions
1.4 Research objectives
1.5 Importance of the study
1.6 Research methodology
1.7 Limitations of the study
1.8 Clarification of terms
1.9 Conclusion of Chapter One
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL/EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORKS
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Theoretical and empirical dimensions of the theory of personification
2.3 Correlating theory of personification and personality psychology
2.4 Correlating theory of personification and development philosophy
2.5 Correlating theory of personification and the concept of leadership
2.6 Conclusion of Chapter Two
CHAPTER THREE CORRELATING LEADERSHIP, GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Governance
3.3 Development
3.4 Unravelling the epitome of personification
3.5 Institutionalised impersonation by personification
3.6 Effects of personified leadership disposition on society
3.7 Conclusion of Chapter Three
CHAPTER FOUR INFLUENCE OF PERSONIFICATION ON GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT
4.1 Introduction
4.2 African governance model: Personified leadership versus Ubuntu in East Africa 165
4.3 Contemporary dimensions on personified governance in East Africa
4.4 Personified leadership and governance in East Africa
4.5 Leadership and national development in East Africa
4.6 Citizen involvement in national governance in East Africa
4.7 Citizen involvement in national development in East Africa
4.8 Conclusion of Chapter Four
CHAPTER FIVE RESULTS, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Restatement of the purpose
5.3 Summary of main points
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