Acknowledgements

I have been working on this book – my first – for what seems like a lifetime. Seventeen years ago, I took a class about Rwanda during my undergraduate studies at Northwestern University. There, I was lucky to be part of a small group of students who immersed themselves in learning about the country. Prominent dissidents and supporters of Rwanda visited us in Evanston, and we were privileged that they shared their extraordinary insights and experiences with us. As a confused undergraduate student unaware and unsure about what to do next with his life, I was extremely lucky to have taken a course that inspired me to learn more about a country striving for development, with all the contradictions, unevenness and inequalities that accompany capitalist transformation. I thank Stephen Kinzer, who led the course, for setting this journey in motion.

I was lucky to then embark on a master’s and then my doctoral studies at SOAS University of London. While I did my master’s in the politics department, I joined the development studies department for my PhD. I would like to thank Christopher Cramer, my supervisor, for accepting me on to the programme. I am grateful to him for introducing me to political economy and for reading early, half-baked versions of my writing on Rwanda and political economy. His comments and feedback were invaluable in making me a better writer, as well as introducing me to the work of others. More than anything, he ensured I became a more careful and critical researcher. I was also lucky that Phil Clark joined SOAS the year I started my PhD. His advice and encouragement over the years have been invaluable, giving me confidence to conduct my fieldwork.

SOAS is a unique, pluralist and intellectually invigorating environment that encourages critical and innovative thinking. I was incredibly lucky to be part of a wonderful community of doctoral researchers during my time there from 2010 to 2015. There are many friends I learned so much from during that time and continue to learn from now. Most of all, Lorenza Monaco and Philippa McMahon were my closest confidantes as we attempted to navigate academic life, teaching and all the precarity that came with it. Gauthier Marchais and Christopher Sampson, though both were at the London School of Economics (LSE), were also key sources of support as we struggled to write our PhD and meandered our way around Russell Square. Tom Goodfellow, Benjamin Chemouni and Barnaby Dye have been my closest sounding boards over the years when it comes to discussing Rwanda. Our conversations, which grew out of our fieldwork in Rwanda, have evolved into invaluable friendships.

The Government of Rwanda gave me permission to conduct research. The opportunity to learn from Rwandans who were prioritising delivering ‘development’ above all else has had a lasting impact on me. Interviewing Rwandans and people working in Rwanda who shared their opinions about the constraints and possibilities of late development has been an extraordinary privilege. I will forever be grateful that so many Rwandans – inside government and out of it – shared their time with me over the years. Letting me into their lives and allowing me to express my views has been a wonderful honour. I hope that I managed to do some justice to the stories, experiences and perspectives that were shared with me. Many friendships have been formed out of this experience (both in Rwanda and away from it). I am grateful to those who shared their ideas, to those who tolerated mine and to those who patiently listened. I will not name any Rwandans that I interviewed or worked closely with here. But they are aware of how much they helped and supported me. I owe them an incalculable debt.

After completing my PhD, I moved to the LSE Department of International Development. As an LSE Fellow in the department for two years between 2015 and 2017, I had the opportunity to work with inspiring colleagues and wonderful students who enriched my research. At the LSE, James Putzel was a wonderful mentor who always offered critical and constructive engagement with my work. James is a committed teacher who has had a profound impact on many generations of political economy researchers. I count myself lucky to be one of them. Thanks also to James for inviting me to so many scrumptious dinners at his house.

The precarious nature of the academic job market meant one more move for me. I was lucky to win an independent three-year Hallsworth Research Fellowship in Political Economy to continue my work in Rwanda but also to develop a more comparative focus for my research on State–Business Relations and Varieties of African Capitalisms across several other countries. The Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) Research Centre, led by Sam Hickey and Kunal Sen, provided additional support for my research, including giving me funding to be away from the university for significant periods of time to conduct fieldwork. The ESID first provided me with funding to return to Rwanda and conduct further fieldwork in 2016 at a time when I was still finishing my PhD corrections and applying for jobs. I am very grateful to Sam and Kunal for the support they provided for my work and my career over the years. Sam, in particular, has been an exceptionally important influence in my career and an excellent mentor, always generous with feedback and support.

I have now been at the Global Development Institute (GDI) in Manchester for eight years, having secured a permanent position here in 2020. I am lucky to work with excellent colleagues in Europe’s largest department, dedicated to the study of development. I have benefited from being supported through the nurturing environment that my department and university create for early career researchers. In an increasingly high-pressure higher education environment within the United Kingdom, I consider myself extremely privileged to be working in a department that prioritises research-led teaching and is committed to building a supportive environment for colleagues to build their careers. The precarity of being on fixed-term contracts for five years forced me to concentrate on publishing articles rather than focus on my book. However, the funding for fieldwork and consistent feedback that my colleagues at GDI have provided has been invaluable, making me a better researcher and, ultimately, making my book a stronger product.

Over the years, I have benefited significantly from funding from a variety of sources. This funding has also been used to support my research in Rwanda and the writing of this book. First, the universities I have been at (Manchester, LSE and SOAS) have provided a variety of funding for my fieldwork in Rwanda. My fieldwork in Rwanda has also been funded by ESID and the University of Oxford Blavatnik School of Public Policy project on ‘Navigating Global Banking Standards’, led by Emily Jones. Ultimately, a sabbatical, as well as further funding for an additional sabbatical through winning a University of Manchester Faculty of Humanities award, enabled me to finish a draft of my book. The award of a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (MFSS24/240043) gave me the time to address revisions and complete the final version of this book. I am also thankful to the University of Manchester for paying to make this book open access.

Teaching political economy at SOAS is the reason why I chose to pursue a career in academia. My dedication to teaching and researching political economy only increased when I had the opportunity to teach the LSE MSc Development studies course (DV 400) when I was an LSE Fellow. At Manchester, my teaching broadened to focusing on more diverse topics, including policy-oriented courses. In all three universities, my students have encouraged the evolution of my thinking, forcing me to learn more and keeping me on my toes. Understanding this is perhaps why my own academic research is increasingly focused on advocating for re-centring political economy teaching within development studies departments globally. I cannot thank my students enough for the contributions they have made to my thinking.

Any publication is often a product of years of conversations, questions, criticism and suggestions from supportive colleagues. Lindsay Whitfield read my PhD and has consistently provided feedback on my work over the years. She has been a constant source of support for over a decade. James Putzel and Graham Harrison were my examiners and read and provided comments on the very first version of my work in Rwanda (my PhD thesis). Two reviewers assigned by Cambridge University Press also provided extensive feedback and valuable suggestions that made this book stronger. Sam Hickey, Tom Lavers, Sebastian Heinen, Matt Tyce and Andy Sumner also read earlier versions of this book and provided extremely helpful feedback. Over the years, several other friends and colleagues have made a significant impact on my work and have also provided feedback and suggestions on my writing about Rwanda and late development: An Ansoms, Lars Buur, Benjamin Chemouni, Christopher Cramer, Jonathan Di John, Barnaby Dye, Tom Goodfellow, Hazel Gray, Bert Ingelaere, Marco Jowell, Laura Mann, Kate Meagher, David Mwambari, Pallavi Roy, Frank Rusagara and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira. I must also acknowledge my thanks to three scholars who have not directly engaged with my writing but have deeply informed my ideas: Mushtaq Khan, Thandika Mkandawire and Ha-Joon Chang. At Cambridge University Press, I am grateful for the patience and support of Maria Marsh and Rosanna Barraclough as they guided me through the review and editorial process.

More than anything, I would like to thank my mother, father and sister. It has been a long journey to finishing this. At times, I did not think I would come close to finishing this book. I would not have completed the book without them. My sister is my biggest champion, and she has more belief in me than I deserve. My parents have supported me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. They have even read the book in its different forms. They have consistently encouraged me even when I thought the book would never see the light of day. There is nothing I can do that can be enough to thank them.

I dedicate this book to my parents.