"Deference and dissent strike a delicate balance in any polity. Insufficient deference to authority may incapacitate government, whereas too much may allow leaders to orchestrate mass violence. Although cross-national and cross-temporal variation in deference to authority and willingness to express dissent has long been studied in political science, rarely have scholars studied programs designed to change these aspects of political culture. This study, situated in post-genocide Rwanda, reports a qualitative and quantitative assessment of one such attempt, a radio program aimed at discouraging blind obedience and reliance on direction from authorities and promoting independent thought and collective action in problem solving. Over the course of one year, this radio program or a comparable program dealing with HIV was randomly presented to pairs of communities, including communities of genocide survivors, Twa people, and imprisoned génocidaires. Changes in individual attitudes, perceived community norms, and deliberative behaviors were assessed using closed-ended interviews, focus group discussions, role-play exercises, and unobtrusive measures of collective decision making. Although the radio program had little effect on many kinds of beliefs and attitudes, it had a substantial impact on listeners’ willingness to express dissent and the ways they resolved communal problems." (Abstract)

"In 2004, a nongovernmental organization in Rwanda began broadcasting a radio soap opera (Musekeweya, or NewDawn) to teach listeners about the roots of violence, the importance of independent thought, and the dangers of excessive deference to authority. This media intervention, which enfolds educational messages in a dramatic fictional story, is part of a global phenomenon called “entertainment education,” which has become a popular technique among social change campaigns in developed and developing countries (Rosin 2006; Singhal et al. 2004). Such campaigns are especially popular in post-conflict countries where government agencies and civil society are often unreliable vehicles for promoting social or political change. Entertainment-education programs weave messages about health, conflict resolution, or development strategies into a story featuring realistic and entertaining characters [...] The soap opera, launched in Rwanda one decade after the genocide, featured a fictional story of two Rwandan communities. Due to government restrictions against public discussion of ethnicity, the story of the communities serves as a transparent allegory for the history of cooperation and conflict between Rwandan Tutsis and Hutus. Intercommunity tensions created by a land shortage are set aflame by demagogic authorities who seek to accumulate power, and relations between the fictional communities disintegrate as the less prosperous community attacks its rival. Against this backdrop of communal violence, a romantic storyline unfolds between a young man and woman, each from a different community. Instead of falling victim to the violence and prejudices between their two communities, the Rwandan Romeo and Juliet form a coalition for peace with citizens from both communities. Their coalition defies the power-hungry authorities and seeks to mediate the conflict and help the victims." (Page 624)