Botswana: An African Model for Progress and Prosperity (2012)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nake-m-kamrany/botswana-economic-growth_b_2069226.html

by ca98am79 • 11 years ago

27 11 11 years ago

"According to the CIA World Factbook, diamond activities contribute to 38 percent of national GDP, generate nearly 80 percent of export income and 50 percent of government revenue"

Well then. It's easy to replicate their "model"; all you need is a ginormous diamond mine.

oregondan• 11 years ago

The country's (and the author's) claims of "sound democratic leadership" are also disputed.

Levitsky and Way, in Competitive Authoritarianism, (https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NZDI05p1PDgC&oi=...) describe it as a stable authoritarian government. Although the country does hold nominally competitive elections, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has held power since they gained independence. That the country's diamond industry has thrived over the last 40 years is no coincidence.

Havoc2• 11 years ago

all you need is a ginormous diamond mine.

A valid point, but not entirely fair. The diamonds contribute but its seen as a legitimately well run country in its own right - well by African standards anyway.

dmlorenzetti• 11 years ago

I think what distinguishes Botswana is how much of the diamond revenue the government turns into benefits for its citizens. Unlike many other countries, and no matter what other woes it might have, the place is not run as a kleptocracy.

I was a Peace Corps volunteer there in the late 1980s, and saw a lot of schools and health clinics built by the government, roads extended, water pumps installed, and so on. They also had adult education centers set up in many villages.

I went to teach there after a planned group of volunteers for Zaire fell through (for political reasons). The government of Botswana found out and told Peace Corps to send all the math/science teachers they could. I think that speaks to the mindset of the governance there.

Another aspect of the lack of corruption was the day-to-day interactions with authorities. In Zimbabwe or Kenya, if your bus got pulled over by the police it was always for a bribe. In Botswana, a group of soldiers would empty out the bus of passengers, inspect everything (no doubt looking for bombs and other arms related to the resistance to apartheid in neighboring South Africa), and then let you get back on the bus. Not a jot of personal property would be touched, nor money change hands, as far as I ever saw.

Finally, the Batswana culture always seemed to me to be incredibly peaceful, for want of a better word. My sense (not an anthropologist by any means) is that Botswana has a culture very much like an extended farm village. Most people live off the land, and the population is very sparse. Unless you're in a pretty large city (and there are maybe two or three), you simply don't walk past somebody without saying hello (and following a prescribed ritual for doing so). Even in the capital, you tend to acknowledge people as you pass them. There were of course problems, but in general I never feared to walk around anywhere, or to talk with anybody.

icebraining• 11 years ago

Like in the Congo? The resource curse [1] is a well accepted phenomenon, if Botswana managed to avoid it, that alone is worthy of study.

[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse

mark_l_watson• 11 years ago

A little off topic but but I took an online Globalization class last year from Wharton and the professor talked a lot how given a few decades to settle political problems, Africa would be the growth center of the world both economically and by population.

sampo• 11 years ago

Progress, prosperity and a heavy metal music subculture.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/12/27/the-heavy-metal-sub...

Havoc2• 11 years ago

Namibia is also worth a mention. Both countries are kinda quietly doing their own thing & doing a decent job of it too. Still third world country, so realistically it is less than perfect & some roadbumps are to be expected but respectable anyway.

purephase• 11 years ago

Built upon the backs of thousands of displaced native peoples (by the government) so that De Beers can move in and strangle the diamond market to drive up prices.

Not sure if this is a model that others should laud, really.

blake_himself• 11 years ago

I've heard that DeBeers kind of runs the place. I don't remember where I heard that though.

taejo• 11 years ago

The article doesn't mention the fact that 78% of people in Botswana are ethnically Tswana and speak Tswana, which is a level of homogeneity that is almost unheard of in Sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, nearby Lesotho and Swaziland are even less diverse, and are doing far worse, so it's obviously not the only factor.

Botswana: An African Model for Progress and Prosperity (2012)

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