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Another major obstacle to development lies in a deeply entrenched mentality: the belief that one bears no responsibility for the fate of society.

It is the mindset of the free rider — those who wish to travel toward change and development without paying the price.

Yet the price of citizenship is well known. It consists in deliberately and regularly informing oneself about one’s rights and duties; in understanding one’s social role; in organizing individually and collectively; in acting to fulfill that role; and in encouraging others to do the same.

This price is not abstract.
It requires time, effort, discipline, and sometimes sacrifice.

But many refuse to pay it.

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Wanting the Destination Without the Journey

Within this mindset, risk is to be avoided at all costs.
Engagement is postponed indefinitely.
Responsibility is always someone else’s problem.

The expectation is simple: enjoy the benefits of change without contributing to it.
Benefit from the sacrifices of others without ever making one’s own.

Participation becomes conditional. Commitment becomes optional. Citizenship is reduced to commentary, complaint, or passive observation.

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Profiting From Effort, Fleeing From Consequences

This mentality reveals itself most clearly when things deteriorate.

When collective systems fail, when institutions weaken, when opportunities shrink, the response is often not to repair, reform, or rebuild — but to exit. Those who refused to invest effort, energy, or courage at home organize themselves to live elsewhere, in countries built and sustained by citizens who accepted to pay the price of development.

Thus, many are born, grow up, deploy their talents, and ultimately live and die abroad — not always because opportunity was impossible at home, but because responsibility was consistently deferred.

The paradox is stark: societies are abandoned precisely because too many refused to take responsibility for shaping them.

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The Cost of Irresponsibility

The free rider mindset undermines development at its root.

No society can transform itself when the majority waits for others to act.
No democracy can survive when citizenship is optional.
No development can occur when responsibility is endlessly externalized.

When everyone wants to benefit but few are willing to contribute, collective action collapses. Institutions weaken. Trust erodes. And the burden falls — again and again — on a small minority who continue to act, organize, and sacrifice.

Over time, this imbalance becomes unsustainable.

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Citizenship Is Not a Free Ride

Development is not a gift.
Change is not imported.
Progress is not achieved by observation alone.

They are the outcome of shared responsibility.

Escaping the free rider mentality does not mean denying hardship or ignoring risk. It means accepting a demanding truth: there is no collective destination without individual contribution.

Citizenship is not a spectator sport.
It is a discipline.
A practice.
A commitment.

A society advances when enough of its members accept to pay the price of participation — to inform themselves, to organize, to act, and to hold others accountable.

Without that, development remains something one waits for.
With it, development becomes something one builds.

Franck Essi

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