On Friday, Rwanda hosted the Meles Zenawi Foundation’s inaugural symposium on development with delegates rooting for the integration of the late Ethiopian leader’s view of the relationship between the Government and Business in Africa’s governance systems.

Participants explored the concept of a democratic developmental state, debunking the notion that development and democracy hardly thrived alongside each other.

Indeed, it was observed that, while not all developmental states necessary embraced democratic governance, there are many examples, including in Africa, where states have actively pursued both economic growth and democracy in equal measure, with positive outcomes.

In addition, while many Western scholars tend to use a common yardstick to measure democracy universally – a hypothesis that’s aggressively promoted by hordes of non-state actors seeking to assert their own influence – there is a growing consensus that the one-size-fits-all premise may not be practical after all, as it’s built around the false assumption that the world is one homogenous entity.

As witnessed during last week’s deliberations at the Meles Zenawi Foundation’s symposium in Kigali, there is need to continuously deliberate on what kind of model that works best in a given context, with view to making people’s lives better and broadening freedoms.

Most importantly, the concept of democracy is one that should not be made to look alien to the aspirations of those it is intended to serve. Democracy is about the legitimate free expression of a people.

When people are truly empowered to freely and fairly pursue their aspirations, they better partake in the development process. And when governments consistently seek to make progressive interventions to promote economic growth and expand opportunity, as opposed to becoming passive actors in the development process, it increases the chances of citizens beating the poverty trap and achieving their aspirations.

And, from experience, it is becoming increasingly clear that democratic developmental states are possibly what most developing countries need since it allows for democracy and development to co-exist and thrive.

But the discourse about these concepts should be domesticated to reflect local realities.