LEADERSHIP, VISION AND DEVELOPMENT
Max Everest-Phillips1
Introduction
The ‘imagined community’ of any state requires a credible political vision to inspire, guide
and challenge for a better tomorrow.2 In too many developing countries, however, visions of
the future are plentiful but their credibility is lacking; or vision is scarce and the state
operates with a narrow imagination in a limited mental horizon. Only if guided by an agreed
vision can the political and administrative leadership work effectively together to provide
public officials and citizens with the constructive sense of national purpose needed to
achieve development. The recent adoption by the United Nations of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) places the question of how that can be achieved at the centre of
the challenge facing the international community.
Developing countries usually do not lack for vision, but the implementation of the resulting
plans too often fails. Why? To answer that, one must further inquire: who designed and
wrote these visions, especially when articulated as a national development plan: the nation’s
leaders or hired consultants? Where does the ‘vision’ come from? How legitimate is it? Is it
available in local languages? Did the vision take into account the political context, the
historical baggage, and societal relevance or is it simply the rhetoric of an elite few? How is it
possible to create a general state-building mind-set and agenda – and what then is the
practical role of top officials in doing that? Are ‘Vision 2030’ type national plans effective in
this regard? How to get real country ownership of a sustainable development policy that is
not driven from outside, by the international financial institutions and bilateral donors? How
can a country create a genuine sense of citizenship, a sense of national purpose helping
political and administrative leadership combine the freedom of imagination for a brighter
future with the practicality of wisdom built on experience?3
“Where there is no Vision, the People perish”4
On 15 February 1942, following the disastrous surrender of Singapore to the invading
Japanese army, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill broadcast to his people and her
Allies. On one of the darkest days of World War II, Churchill was able to offer a powerful
The author is director of the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Centre for Public Service
Excellence in Singapore. This contribution is written in a private capacity and may not reflect UN policy. The
author as a little boy fifty years ago stood for hours in silence on a grey, cold day in central London to watch Sir
Winston Churchill’s funeral cortege move slowly past, while the author’s mother, whose father had been killed
at the time of Dunkirk, abandoned English emotional reserve and openly wept.
2
An individualist exponential discount rate drives the supposed value of the long-term down to close to zero,
assuming current consumption is preferable to future delayed gratification. By contrast strong communitarian
hyperbolic discount rate drops but then levels off, placing greater value on stewardship or guardianship of the
future, that can be institutionalised by an “Ombudsman for future generations”.
3
A. Nayak. 2009. “Strategic Foresight,” in Handbook of Research on Strategy and Foresight, edited by Laura
Ann Costanzo and Robert Bradley Mackay, 66-81. Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar
4
Proverbs, 29: 18, King James Version of the Bible.
111
1
vision as to how to respond to the military aggression of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and
imperialist Japan:
“The whole future of mankind may depend upon our action and upon our conduct.
So far we have not failed. We shall not fail now. Let us move forward steadfastly together
into the storm and through the storm.”
Churchill’s distinguished biographer Sir Martin Gilbert described Britain’s great wartime
leader as an accomplished storyteller who “loved the ebb and flow of narrative”. Churchill
had a deep love for writing history and was inspired by it, observing that “the future is
unknowable, but the past should give us hope”.
In turn, many world leaders have been inspired by Churchill’s gripping capacity to motivate,
and to imagine a better world. 2015 is not only the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s death (and,
by coincidence, also the golden jubilee of Singapore as an independent state), but it also
marks the 70th anniversary of the passing of US President Franklin D Roosevelt. The
leadership and vision of FDR and Churchill for international collaboration resulted in the
Atlantic Charter of 1941, the founding document of the United Nations.5
The Qatar ‘Nation Vision 2030’ points out: Wise political leaders know the direction in which
they would like their societies to develop, balancing the interests of present and future
generations. It is the political process that articulates the national vision and sense of
purpose, and provides the leadership to make the resultant national development plan
happen. The ‘strategic vision’ is more than the mission, goal or strategy - it captures
profound values, and presents them with charisma and eloquence. It affirms how the
legitimacy of the state will be created or consolidated.6
In short, technocratic solutions cannot on their own substitute for statesmanship. Effective
political leadership is required to answer the inherently political questions about using the
institutions of state to give direction and purpose to the imagined nation. At the same time,
public employee motivation requires officials to feel pride in serving the greater public
interest and passion in articulating a positive sense of patriotism. The combination of a
believable vision, effective leadership and efficient bureaucracy can create a sense of
national pride. Truly visionary, inspirational leaders have the style, creativity and interpersonal skills, as well as the magnetic personality or power of oratory, to motivate both
citizens and officials to a higher cause of transformation not simply transaction.7 They also
often have the capability or resources to facilitate compromise in the interest of forging
national identity. Leaders in countries with failed visions like the Vision 2020 in Nigeria must
5
At the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the governments in exile of Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia, as well as the Soviet
Union, and representatives of the Free French Forces, unanimously adopted the Atlantic Charter; and on 1
January 1942, a larger group of nations declared their acceptance of it, issuing a joint Declaration by the United
Nations expressing agreement and solidarity in the fight against the Axis powers: see
http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/history/atlantic_charter.shtml
6
For policy implications, see http://www.idea.int/publications/nvm/upload/nationalvisionsmatter_english.pdf
7
Conger, Jay A. The charismatic leader: Behind the mystique of exceptional leadership. Jossey-Bass, 1989.
Douglas, Andrew, John O. Burtis, and L. Kristine Pond-Burtis. "Myth and leadership vision: Rhetorical
manifestations of cultural force." Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 7.4 (2001): 55-69.
2
also “be more committed, honest, self-disciplined, transparent and more accountable to the
people.”8
Pakistan’s Vision 2030 declares:
A Vision is like a dream, but one which is experienced with both eyes open and with
one’s feet on the ground … The Vision document necessarily combines idealism with a
sense of the possible. Its goals reflect the aspirations and potential of our people in the
context of a fast-changing world. The Vision 2030 exercise considers a range of futures with
concomitant strategic alignments. Yet the underlying theme is to embrace needed
transformation, and to create new opportunities based on our innate strengths. This is the
basic theme of Vision 2030.
Yet surprisingly little is known about how leaders develop a meaningful vision. It is
constructed by the individual and through structured political party mechanisms, and
emerges around personal values, ideologies, social requirements and charismatic
behaviour, and requires repetition, representation, and a supportive style. The process,
content, and context of visionary leadership skills driven by creativity and intuitive long-term
idealism are poorly understood. The context within which foresight approach can be
effective is one where the inspiration of a national vision for a better future inspires
governments’ success in achieving results, including development outcomes. The capability
of political leaders in developing countries to articulate such visions effectively – ensuring
they are genuinely owned, unifying, coherent, imaginative, realistic but stretching ambition to
be a “developmental state” – will undoubtedly be key to mobilise the countries of the UN to
deliver on the SDGs. How can such a dynamic sense of purpose be further strengthened?
Foresight
‘Foresight’ refers to approaches that systematically map out the potential policies needed to
deliver the best possible future.9 Institutionalising foresight in government can enable better
adaptation and resilience in the face of ever-growing complexity and ‘wicked (ie.
unresolvable) problems’.
If the process is open to citizen engagement, foresight
methodologies can empower developing countries to take greater command of their own
future. Some argue that the risk of using foresight in low capacity contexts is confusion. Yet,
by re-examining the past, rethinking the present and reimagining the future, the idea of a
better tomorrow turns into a powerful tool, as well as guide for making it happen, for all.
Developing visions or national development plans through the use of foresight
methodologies can provide much-needed guiding light or hope for all developing countries,
regardless of capacity constraints.
Malaysia even has a song Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020) that declares: Vision drives
progress/Let there be no more disharmony/Let luxury be the norm/Let’s enjoy it
altogether/Vision 2020/A long-term view/Not a dream but reality/Let’s strive for it together10.
8
Asaju, K., and A. Akume. "Vision 20: 2020: Realities and Challenges." Faculty of Administration Conference
Proceedings, ABU Zaria. Vol. 1. 2010, p.276.
9
For further background, see the UNDP GCPSE handbook on foresight for developing country context.
10
Wawasan meningkat kemajuan/Tiada lagi kepincangan/Kemewahan rata dirasai/Bersama kita
nikmati/Wawasan 2020/Satu pandangan jauh/Bukan impian malah kenyataan/Bersama kita jayakan.
3
‘Strategic and Participatory Foresight’ provides a more detailed, systematic approach to
envisioning possible futures, both good and bad. Its methodologies allow the administrative
leadership to support or refine the vision by systematically mapping out potential scenarios
and the policies needed to deliver the best possible and preferred future, while recognising
threats and risks, especially the dogmas, orthodoxies and “groupthink” that might undermine
the foresight approach. Combined, vision and foresight offer developing countries a structure
for empowerment, addressing vulnerability by focusing on resilience, adaptability and taking
control of their own destinies. Furthermore, with the replacement of the MDGs in 2015 with
the SDGs, many countries are revisiting their “National Visions” - encapsulated in National
Development Plans. Yet too often ‘vision’ and ‘foresight’ are not adequately connected,
because these operate in different spheres: the realm of political inspiration not perhaps fully
informed of the whole range of possible futures, and the central government core function of
strategic planning too inflexible and foresight not unbounded by higher ambition (“We have a
Dream”).
The Vision for Development
What’s gone wrong? A vision needs to be shared and accepted. Leaders and governments
are elected based on a manifesto that may offer insight. The implementation of this political
vision of the future in developing countries (often through national development plans)
requires political imagination and inspiration, backed up by the will to translate the desire for
development into real and coordinated action. This can only be achieved effectively if
ministers and public servants have a common understanding of what the public
administration has to achieve through the national strategic narrative for the country’s role in
the world and how it brings its full resources to bear in a coherent way. 11 Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy in 2012, replacing the
2030 vision adopted in 1997. The 2050 vision, reinforced by the 100 Steps laid out in 2015,
advocates a formula to follow to achieve modernisation: “Economy first, then politics”. Two
generations earlier, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore had declared: ‘Economics is politics’. The
philosopher Seneca once noted: “There is no fair wind for those who don’t know where they
are heading”.12
Kenya offers a salutary lesson on all this. The country’s economy, after the high growth
rates it initially enjoyed at independence in the 1960s, collapsed in the mid-1970s, resulting
in GDP per capita declining lasting up to 2002. The human cost was huge: the proportion of
people living in poverty increased from about 48.8 percent in 1990 to more than 56 percent
at the end of 2002; life expectancy declined from 57 years in 1986 to 47 years in 2000; infant
mortality increased from 62 per thousand in 1993 to 78 per thousand in 2003, while under
five mortality increased from 96 per thousand births to 114 per thousand during the same
period. Yet Kenya’s Vision 2030 agreed in 2008 was seeking to promote the modernisation
of Nairobi by displacing street vendors from the city centre without their agreement,
11
Rafferty, Alannah E., and Mark A. Griffin. "Dimensions of transformational leadership: Conceptual and
empirical extensions." The Leadership Quarterly 15.3 (2004): 329-354.
12
errant consilia nostra, quia non habent quo derigantur; ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est.
Letter LXXI, line 3.
4
adequate compensation or offering them a credible alternative future, illustrating worryingly
different developmental ‘visions’.13
In neighbouring Tanzania, the national development plan, Vision 2025, does seek to explain
the importance of national vision in the developing world thus:
A vision for development is an articulation of a desirable future condition or situation
which a nation envisages to attain and the plausible course of action to be taken for its
achievement. A national vision therefore seeks to actively mobilize the people and other
resources towards the achievement of shared goals. A shared vision arouses people's
aspirations and creates the spark that lifts the nation out of the mundane. In the process, it
instils the courage and determination to rise to challenges at the individual, community and
national levels. A vision is a vehicle of hope and an inspiration for motivating the people to
search and work harder for the betterment of their livelihood and for posterity.
Clearly written. Yet how many people in Tanzania have read the document and understand
the flowing rhetoric in English? How far is the Vision 2025 really inspiring the nation out of
the mundane?
Just as the view into the distance is best from the peak of the mountain, unless engulfed in
fog, so a primary role of high office should be to provide similar clarity on the country’s longdistance road-map. All concepts of leadership recognise Inspiring a Shared Vision (the art
of envisioning an inspiring future) as one of the key attributes:
Leaders passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the
future, creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization [Nation?] can become.
Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They
breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.14
Research supports the assertion that the ‘National Vision’ does matter: the evidence shows
that countries with higher growth rates have been inspired by a national vision. 15 The
National Development Plan in many developing countries has become the vehicle for giving
expression to the “National Vision”. Tanzania’s Vision 2025, for instance, builds on a long
tradition in the country of inspirational public statements of national purpose going back to
the Arusha Declaration of 1967. Yet these documents have proved generally disappointing
for motivating the country as a whole, let alone the public sector to excellence. As the 2025
document, in presenting a notably wordy and gloomy vision, observed:
The mindset of the leaders and people of Tanzania has neither been supportive of
hard work, ingenuity and creativity, nor has it provided a conducive environmental for these
attributes to emerge. Thus, there is a high degree of apathy and lack of accountability and
self-motivation. Initiative, ingenuity, creativity and innovativeness in society are at a low ebb.
Consequently, a culture of admiring "effortless" success has erupted and, with it,
productive individual initiative and the spirit of the community development have not taken a
positive shape.
13
Linehan, Denis. (2007) 'Re-ordering the Urban Archipelago: Kenya Vision 2030, Street Trade and the Battle
for Nairobi City Centre'. Aurora Geography Journal, 1, pp21-37.
14
Kouzes and Posner's leadership model, for instance, have this as one of five attributes, along with Modelling
the Way (articulating and upholding values), Challenging the Process (finding new ways of doing things),
Enabling Others to Act (empowering through trust and capacity building), and Encouraging the Heart (ie.
celebrating success): The Leadership Challenge is a book written by James Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner,
published in 1987.
15
World Bank. 2004. National visions matter : lessons of success. Washington, DC: World Bank. The document
offers 16 key learnings. http://www.idea.int/publications/nvm/upload/nationalvisionsmatter_english.pdf
5
While over-reliance on planning is dangerous, belief in the national vision to guide a country
is also, by itself, not enough: as the South Africa Vision 2030 warns: a capable state does
not materialise by decree, nor can it be legislated or created by conference resolutions. 16
The challenge is also increasing. All states are evolving and their functions are becoming
more complex as societies and economies develop, thus complicating power structures,
creating more complex elites and vested interests, while at the same time global influences
alter national prerogatives. ‘Winner takes all’ electoral systems may create antagonistic
blame culture politics. How then can public officials deliver effectively?
Visions 2015, 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2050, 2063 ….
The SDGs 2030 Agenda will require new Visions that must come from the top. The
formulation of the national development plan becomes a core mechanism for envisioning the
country’s future. The process of the formulation of the Vision or plan is therefore crucial.
Bottom up consultation should link up with top down strategic thinking. The process must be
structured, expectations managed, empty slogans avoided. How is it to be done?
Few developing countries, however, lack a declared ‘Vision’. For example, countries with a
Vision 2020 include Ghana and Rwanda, Vision 2025 in Tanzania, a Vision 2030 for Kenya,
Jamaica, Namibia, Qatar and Zambia; a Vision 2035 in Brunei, Cameroon and Uganda
(which has now slipped to 2040, joining the Philippines); and countries thinking really longterm with a Vision 2050 includes Papua New Guinea. Yet genuine ownership of these
documents often appears limited. Post-independence nationalism failed to acquire “Finnish
characteristics” in most parts of the world. Too many Vision statements rapidly collapsed into
cynicism.
Botswana’s Vision 2016 appears to be distinctly more promising and more genuinely ‘owned’
that its Tanzanian counterpart. Its parameters were set by a broad based strategy adopted
in 1996 and focused on the aspirations for Botswana at the country’s 50th anniversary of
Independence. The Vision is built on Botswana’s four national principles: Democracy,
Development, Self-Reliance and Unity; and Botho - the Tswanan concept of a person who
has a well-rounded character, who is well-mannered, courteous and disciplined, and realises
his or her full potential both as an individual and as a part of the community earning respect
and encouraging social justice for all.
Produced by the Presidential Task Group, which commenced its work in January 1997, the
Long Term Vision for Botswana aimed to be one with which all citizens could identify, and
the result of wide consultation at all levels of Botswana society, and summarises the
aspirations of a broad consensus of the Botswana population. Open hearings or Kgotla
meetings were conducted in such a way that the different strata of society were given the
opportunity to participate, not least in dealing with challenges and with the strategies needed
to make the Vision a reality. Vision 2016 comprises seven pillars: i) An educated, informed
nation; ii) A prosperous, productive and innovative nation; iii) A compassionate, just and
caring nation; iv) A safe and secure nation; v) An open, democratic and accountable nation;
vi) A moral and tolerant nation; and vii) A proud and united nation. From this, the entire
public service plan cascades so every civil servant knows how his or her work is helping the
implementation of the Plan.
16
P.23.
6
Another country with a clearly strongly-owned sense of collective purpose is Rwanda. Its
Vision 2020 is based on the following pillars: Reconstruction built on good governance, and
a capable state; Transformation of agriculture; an efficient private sector; comprehensive
human resources development; infrastructural development,; regional economic integration
and cooperation; and gender equality and sustainable environmental management , and
ICT. The government declares Vision 2020 will be achieved in a spirit of social cohesion
and equity, underpinned by a capable state. Rwanda’s ongoing development will have, at its
core, the Nation’s principal asset - its people.
Putting Leadership at the heart of development
In 1910 Theodore Roosevelt observed that "the leader works in the open, and the boss in
covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives."
Development is a political process not a technical fix. It has often been based on creating a
strong sense of national purpose out of a necessity to survive. The story of East Asia’s
success highlights too the importance of prioritising education, and policy continuity – as in
the “administrative state” of Singapore where many politicians are former officials, or Japan
where bureaucrats set the priorities. By comparison, in the US, a strong ideology of the US
Constitution helped, but in practical terms developed from the intense struggle in the US
through the 19th century to create an effective federal public administration when all its
leadership levels were, and of course remain, presidential appointees. It is interesting to note
that this occurred more by accident than design. The massive upsurge in public support of
civil service reform, following the assassination of the President James Garfield by a
disgruntled person unsuccessfully seeking his patronage for a federal job, led to the creation
of the United States Civil Service Commission in 1883. Leadership means, in other words,
being able to seize opportunities arising from crisis.17
Furthermore the political and administrative leadership interface is crucial: politicians and top
civil servants need to work effectively together. That raises many challenges, in upholding
the core distinction between the state and the government, with all that implies for roles,
responsibilities and long-term national development. In some countries it appears that
politicians are becoming more assertive and civil servants are becoming more defensive,
leading to a perceived ‘politicisation’ of the civil service. This phenomenon, from a positive
angle, may reflect democracy deepening. In different contexts, there exist different
triangular power relations between the president, prime minister, ministers and officials; so
that, depending on the strength of their power base and degree of trust, ministers or officials
may have more or less authority and assertiveness. Different politics also shapes the
influences at work. In some countries, although democratic, the same party has been in
power since independence – e.g. Botswana, Namibia and Singapore and has worked
effectively with the public service for development; in others, fragmented coalitions of shifting
governments and the public service remains a job creation scheme – in Cameroon for
instance the President in 2011 announced that the public service must employ 25,000 young
people to tackle youth unemployment.
It is, of course, important to align the ideas, incentives and behaviours of politicians and of
civil service leadership. That in turn depends on time horizons, if officials can translate
17
See B. Levy. 2014.
7
short-term politics – the wish to be re-elected – into long-term development ambitions. That
requires knowing how to make politicians’ vision become widely respected and credible
enough with officials that it can broadly transcend the swings and whims of personality and
party politics. Officials need to have trust in the broad direction being set by ministers.
A genuine long-term national vision can be already widely accepted in which case
collaboration is about methods not aims, and based on transformational leadership. Or, if it
does not exist, it needs to be built by ongoing negotiation (more transactional leadership as
management). Problems often arise if ministers feel frustrated that their mandates and
political timelines are not respected, if officials feel that politicians try to cut corners and not
respect due process that exists to defend wider objectives.
At heart, solving these problems require trust in and respect for different objectives: and
different time horizons, of the political party or individual manifestos of politicians; and the
rules of due process upheld by officials. Both should be aiming at stewardship - to protect
and develop the long-term national interest. So this has to avoid being negative and
confrontational. Ministers should respect due process; civil servants must offer positive
solutions to implement ministerial agendas, meeting shorter time-horizons of politicians and
longer-term national goals. Credibility on both sides requires mutual trust based on
evidence-based policy – good data (locally owned, not dependent solely on the World Bank),
and good policy ideas from indigenous think-tanks. That in turn creates real country
ownership. Battered morale in public service is weakening a sense of purpose in promoting
the effective developmental state.
‘New Public Passion’: towards a Motivated Public Service
The realisation of grandeur visions is contingent upon the capability and competence of the
public service to deliver the goals envisioned by transformational leaders. Beyond promising
change, politicians and heads of government must ensure that their administrations can rise
up to this challenge. For a public service to be efficient and effective, public officials must not
only be equipped with the appropriate skills and resources to strategize, plan, implement and
monitor programmes18, underpinned by a system of fair compensation. Public officials must
also believe that they are the champions of change who are advancing the cause of national
development, and are valued. Capacity development requires governments to commit to
bringing out the best in its public service, and its staff, infusing them not with ‘New Public
Management’ but with ‘New Public Passion’ for a reinvigorated public service working with
passion to promote public welfare.
Such a vision should spell out the needs and desires of the citizens. But public service
officials are also citizens, and placing them at the heart of policy formulation can, as in
Singapore, incorporate the values of community and public interest in the creation of national
plans. Shared interests and responsibilities promote ownership of the development agenda
and public officials empathise with their citizens, facilitate discussion and mediate tensions
between different societal stakeholders, in order to develop a collective and compelling
vision that is often so instrumental to the successful development of a country. More public
engagement, dialogue and discourse can ensure that the strategic plan of the country is a
true reflection of interests and desires of its citizens, galvanising the whole country to move
Lopes, C. and T. Theisohn. 2003. “Ownership, Leadership and Transformation – Can we do better for
capacity development?” Available at http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/capacitybuilding/leadership/ownership-leadership-and-transformation-full-text.html.
18
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forward in same direction. In many developing countries the national vision may be difficult
to implement unless the interface of the political and administrative leadership is rethought.
Deputy Ministers must be adequately involved and Heads of Public Service must support
their Permanent Secretaries. Both ministers and officials need to improve relations with the
Media and Civil society in general, while minimising the politicisation – if that’s is indeed
what is going on – of the civil service, to prevent any undermining of the effectiveness of
public administration.
While politicians should accord bureaucrats the autonomy to direct and manage public
affairs and minimise political inference, they can use objective measures to keep track of the
performance of both officials and ministers, holding them equally accountable for their
actions or inaction. Bureaucrats, whether or not empathic towards the political causes of
their ministers, should carry out their roles and functions with technical professionalism, and
a medium-term view that transcends the electoral cycles. This makes for a public
administration that is effective and efficient in meeting and carrying out the long-term goals
of national development plans.
Delivering on an effective national vision also requires politicians genuinely committed to
long term national and international development goals. The state-building vision however
fails if the country lacks a National Strategic Plan, often because the main political parties
failed to arrive at national priorities such as taxation policy and education priorities, or
infrastructural projects. Continued tension between parties can result in minimal progress on
developmental issues. For the effectiveness and legitimacy of the administrative leadership
of the Public Service in any country depends on its political leadership. Political leaders can
feel pressured in situations where they feel they enjoy little institutional support and yet need
to achieve difficult goals within their terms of office. The electoral system may offer few
incentives to build broad consensus or national vision, as too few people in most countries
engage with the political process, either as a member of a political party or even in bothering
to vote. At the same time, bureaucrats can also feel overburdened by policy objectives and
implementation plans they feel that they have little influence over.19 But contemporary
democratic norms call out for a moral and educative relationship between leaders and
followers, especially as accountability within bureaucratic systems, and of elected officials to
the public, can often be unclear.
The tendency to merely go along as passive victims of crucial change is waning. The
slow drift of haphazard trial and error, free play of market forces is being displaced. Policy
makers increasingly are undertaking foresight activities to affect change, not merely be
affected by it. Policy planners are coming into their own and assuming new roles as
architects of destiny, not its captives. Explicit planning embracing and encompassing
national economic development is also coming into its own. There is a growing awareness of
pace-setting and dramatic successes.20
Furthermore, the past, present, and the future are inextricably interlinked and remade
together. Although the ever-present past seems to dictate to the ephemeral present, yet it
too is constantly revised and reinterpreted; the past, in a sense, is reconstructed as the
present is built. Similarly, because our present assumptions and images of the future shape
19
Whetstone, J. Thomas. "Personalism and moral leadership: The servant leader with a transforming vision."
Business Ethics: A European Review 11.4 (2002): 385-392.
20
G. Molitor. Visionary National Economic Planning: Plans, Potentials and Progress. Journal of Futures
Studies, May 2008, 12(4): 93 – 108.
9
our current actions, which in turn produce the future “present.”21 Slogans make history,
shown by the credit now given to the vision under Meiji Japan of fukoku kyōhei (富国強兵),
or "rich country, strong military".22 Kenya 2030 vision seeks: To create a globally
competitive and prosperous nation with a high quality of life by 2030. PNG aspires to be a
Smart, Wise, Fair, Healthy and Happy Society by 2050. The Botswana National Plan calls
for “Strong National Identity” and “National Pride and Unity,” and recognizes that the country
“cannot have ‘Unity and Peace’ without Progress”: as in Mozambique, revolutionary
liberation ideals need to evolve with changing times.
Some like Tanzania 2025 lack any slogan, ending instead with lengthy paragraph:
The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 seeks to realize patriotism, nationalism and
to strengthen national cohesion of all the people in society, taking into consideration current
environment in the economic, political and other relevant factors. The national cohesion will
be realized only when the implementation of the Development Vision entails equal
opportunities for participation of all the people and the same opportunities extended to all
people for the enjoyment of the fruits of its achievements. The formulation of the
Development Vision 2025 has been realized through a national consensus which involved
extensive consultations with the various groups in Tanzania society in the form of
workshops, interviews, meetings, etc. It is emphasised that the Development vision's
implementation be equally participatory. For it is only through such a participatory process
that the Development Vision will acquire a people-centred and people-driven character
which is the main foundation for obtaining the people's genuine commitment towards
ensuring the realisation of their goals.
This hints at the importance of development as a discourse, a “conversation”, of “talking” the
future into existence through the power of speech and ideas a common “narrative” and
shared “myth,” based on forging “values” and inventing a collective “identity” in the public
consciousness. The SDGs present a challenge on a scale to rival World War II as a struggle
for a better world. They may call forth magnetic personalities and patriotic fervour, style and
collective national myth or stories shaping a sense of national identity at key moments, such
as the role of Nelson Mandela and the post- Apartheid reconceptualization of south Africa as
a “rainbow nation." The ‘state-building’ agenda in international development points to the
emergence of a renewed understanding of the importance of creating the nation-building
narrative of a shared enterprise of place and belonging, values and identity, shared history
and a common future.
Vision and the supporting national development plan must, however, be genuinely owned
and led by the top – that is by the President or Prime Minister. It cannot not just the MoF or
any other line ministry, it must also be genuinely owned by key factions within government
and the main opposition parties. Opposition parties are important in the democratic
governance of a state. They assist in the maintenance of openness, accountability and
transparency, promote efficiency in the use of government resources, promote public
participation and provide the public with a choice of alternative government. Failure to
provide a functioning alternative government weakens the overall structure of democratic
governance; so a shared vision with a shared diagnosis and agreed priorities, with
stakeholders agreeing to support the process.
21
22
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It must also be genuinely owned by the private sector and civil society organisations in a
broad-based process: not just seen as a government process. That citizen-focus can be reenforced by a rallying cry – eg. In Botswana “Every Citizen must strive for Prosperity”: ie. not
what government alone will do. The choice of language is therefore important: not too
elitist/specialist; not too low in ambition that focus is only on activities. The Vision needs to
measurable and appropriate, with time horizons over short, medium – and long-term, so
activities can be sequenced. The Vision then requires an Implementation Plan backed by
Key Performance Indicators/M&E owned by Heads of Public Service who own and are held
accountable even if politicians are only thinking short-term – that means action rather than
inactivity. The challenge is to create realistic practical strategies to facilitate politicians and
top civil servants working effectively together in the long-term national interest of creating a
‘Developmental State’: the achievement of South Korea progressing from being poorer than
Sudan in 1961 to being 18 times wealthier by 1994. Botswana succeeded as a Democratic
Developmental state, its success in part the result of the Tswana ‘kgotla’ culture of
consultation.
One suggestion is to help in promoting the smooth transition of power by paying exPresidents – eg. in Botswana and Tanzania, and accord them elder statesman status – like
the post of ‘Minister Mentor’ accorded after leaving office to the first Prime Minister of
Singapore Lee Kwan-Yew and of ‘Senior Minister’ to the second Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong. Perhaps retired presidents should be hired to mentor?
Conclusion
“The sovereign cannot rule without troops. He has no troops without money. There is no
money if the land is not prosperous. The land will not be prosperous without good and just
government. Therefore one cannot rule except by justice’.23 The state is constantly recreated by articulating the national Vision of clear, inspiring goals. Brunei sets itself the task
of creating a Quality of life among the top ‘happiest’ 10 nations of world, based on a high
income per capita. By comparison South Africa’s Vision 2030 call to create eleven million
new jobs by 2030 is highly specific, essential yet lacks drama or inspiration. Qatar’s 2030
Vision is backed by wealth (per capita income of nearly $100,000, when non-nationals’
incomes are removed from the statistics), social cohesion, determined and visionary
leadership. Such determination to pick up on and respond to change has a significant
impact on its ability to protect hard won development gains, achieve sustained economic
growth, political and social stability and environmental sustainability, and share the benefits
of human development with its citizens. By offering insight on how to strengthen the interface
between political and administrative leadership through tying political vision to foresight
capabilities in the public service, that leverage the imagination and aspirations of citizens,
the SDGs will be achieved.24
FDR said in his first Inaugural Speech in 1933: … the only thing we have to fear is fear itself
-- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat
into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor
23
The Ottoman administrator Hasan Kafi al-Akhisari (1544-1616), quoted in: Darling, L. 1996. Revenue-raising
and legitimacy: tax collection and finance administration in the Ottoman Empire, 1560-1660 p.281.
24
Sandmann, L., and L. Vandenberg. "A framework for 21st century leadership." Journal of Extension 33.6
(1995): 1-9.
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has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to
victory. President Kennedy neatly summed up Churchill’s extraordinary power of oratory in
creating vision: “He mobilised the English language and sent it into battle.”
Such capacity to inspire, as FDR and Churchill demonstrated in the battle to defeat evil and
create the vision for peace through the United Nations, is still needed today to address the
world war of our time, on poverty, injustice and bad governance. These enemies of a better
future can be defeated by 2030 through similarly effective leadership that can mobilise
humanity behind the vision spelt out in the SDGs.
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