Transcript Presentation to the Transitional Federal

Ethical Leadership in
Post-Conflict Somalia:
Humanity as a Governance Principle
Chloe Schwenke, Ph.D.
Senior Associate
Communities in Transition Division
Creative Associates International Inc.
Washington, DC
A silent tragedy
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The story of a
massacre
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Village of Goobweyn,
near Kismayo
January 16th, 1999:
death of eleven
Somalis
Abdirizak Jiis Jumbur
(11)
Abdirizak Hirsi
Dheere (58)
An uncle of integrity
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Abdirizak Hirsi Dheere
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A student political activist, before Somalia's
independence
Later worked at the Somali National Bank
Active trade unionist.
Opposed the Barre dictatorship, and so was never
promoted
Honest - never stole bank’s money to buy a car,
Believed that Somali democracy would bring justice
for all
Moral landscape of Somalia - 1
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“Hobbesian world”
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A time of perpetual
war
Every man is enemy
to every man
“the time wherein
men live without
other security than
what their own
strength and their
own invention shall
furnish them withal”
Moral landscape of Somalia - 2
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In such condition:
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No industry, no culture, no navigation, no
trade, no building
No knowledge, no account of time, no arts, no
letters, no society
Continual fear, and danger of violent
death:
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“the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,
and short”
Escaping a Hobbesian world
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Can ethics save Somalia from a Hobbesian fate?
Somalia:
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The weak and innocent exploited
Traditional Somali ethics and culture uprooted
Even the code of the warrior is meaningless
Instead of fighting to protect and defend, warriors in
Somalia have fought to exterminate
Overcoming a tragic legacy
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Full dimensions of destruction will never
be fully counted or truly comprehended
Destruction ~ swept away lives and those
elements that make any lives worthwhile:
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aspirations, hopes, trust, compassion, dignity,
tenderness, love, self-respect
Moral duties of a state
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Where do Somalia’s leaders begin?
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Addressing technical and administrative
obligations
What of the moral priorities?
Aristotle: state exists to enable the
individual to realize the highest quality of
life of which he or she is capable
Quality of governance - 1
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Measured by quality of life enjoyed by
citizens
Leadership:
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Reclaim a sense of the public good
Rebuild a deliberative society
Bridge across deep divisions
Quality of governance - 2
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Success directly linked to moral character
and integrity of leaders
What moral resources are available to TFG
leadership?
Inventory of ethical resources - 1
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“Common”
morality
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Families,
parents, friends
Religion
Social
institutions
Culture and
tradition
Inventory of ethical resources - 2
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The Koran
Religion:
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Unite us in our common values
Not divide us between factions who support
differing “truths”
Inventory of ethical resources - 3
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Moral theories
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Do not prove anything
Seek to persuade
A moral lens to understand and solve
moral dilemmas
Inventory of ethical resources - 4
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Adam Smith
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Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative
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Invisible hand of the market
Visible hand of moral leadership
Humanity always as an end, never as a
means
Kant’s ethics:
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Rigorous duty, few compromises, recognition
of the value and worth of each person
Inventory of ethical resources - 5
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Human rights theory
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Constraints:
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TFG as a champion of human rights
Lack of sufficient economic resources
Current inability to shape public morality
Yet government remains morally obliged to:
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Make that effort
Demonstrate some progress
Inventory of ethical resources - 6
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The capabilities approach:
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What are people able to do and to be?
Each person entitled to a decent level of
opportunity
Enhance the capacities or powers of people
as human beings
Simple ~ fulfill nutritional and health needs
• Complex ~ social and political participation
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Inventory of ethical resources - 7
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The ethics of care
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Moral attitude or longing for goodness and
not with moral reasoning
Come face to face with concrete realities
instead of abstract principles
Leaders must focus on the reality of
suffering to respond with effective policy
appropriate to the needs of those who
suffer
Inventory of ethical resources - 8
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Virtue ethics
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Focus is on the individual’s moral character,
not on his or her actions
Concentrate on developing virtuous
character traits first:
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Moral actions will naturally follow
Reconciliation challenges - 1
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“Bad elements”
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Confronting selfishly ill-intentioned people from
position of strength
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Must be rehabilitated or failing that, be constrained
Some still benefit from war economy and chaos
TFG’s strength: Qualitatively different from strength of
bad elements
TFG’s strength based on principles of ethical
governance
TFG as a moral actor
Reconciliation challenges - 2
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Responding to
Somali survivors
of years of
conflict and
violence
How or what
ought TFG to:
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Think about
them
Say to them
Do for them?
Reconciliation challenges - 3
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Moral perspective offers 3 answers:
1) Offer justice
2) Offer care and compassion
3) Economic development opportunities
Justice - 1
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What governments are supposed to
provide
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Rule of law
Institutions of governance
Laws grounded in the shared moral values of
that society.
No society’s laws are perfect, nor is the
administration of such laws through the
courts and police always fair or proper
Justice – 2
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Truth and Reconciliation Commission
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The best strategy for dealing with past crimes and
violations of human rights?
Overriding priorities from a moral perspective: TFG
must be seen to deliver justice - holding people
accountable for the harms caused
Creating a public record as a form of public validation
It may happen again unless TFG is unequivocal:
human lives are valuable, and the human dignity
will be respected and protected
Caring
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A function of governance?
The most influential characteristic of a
truly transformational leader
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A ruler doesn’t “care”
Authentic transformational leadership:
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Charisma, inspirational motivation,
intellectual stimulation, and individualized
consideration
Development
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Equitable,
participatory, and
sustainable
Framed in the
expansion of basic
human freedoms
Founded on
respect for human
dignity and worth
Led with integrity
and vision
Starting, and moving on
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The mechanics of governance
Restarting and managing the Somali
economy
Pursue a richer moral goal than economic
growth alone?
Ethics and Economics
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Ethics complements
economics
Economics: acquisition
of property and “things”
Ethics: the value of
families and
interpersonal relations,
access to quality
education, enjoyment of
cultural affairs, humane
workplace organization,
or recreational and
sporting pursuits
Deliberation
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The time to broaden the economic and
policy dialogue about Somalia’s future
through linking this dialogue to essential
deliberations about the fundamental
values of Somali society – spiritual and
religious convictions, personal morality,
societal values, public integrity, virtuous
character, accountability, and caring – is
now
Moral Reconstruction - 1
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Not the task of government alone
“In every community there are agencies of
moral and cultural development that seek
to shape the ways in which individuals
conceive of their duties to themselves,
their obligations to each other, and their
responsibilities before God”
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G.C. Loury
Moral Reconstruction - 2
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TFG’s role:
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Seek out these
communities and
individuals
Unlock these resources
Together, bring Somalia
into a new era of moral
accountability, of high
ethical standards, of
reinvigorated Somali
culture, and of deep and
committed caring