REMARKS BY JEFF RAMSAY AT THE BUSINESS BOTSWANA EVENT “CELEBRATING THE SMOOTH DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION OF THE PRESIDENCY” (31/3/2018) (original) (raw)

Continuity and Change in Botswana's Democracy: An Assessment of the Presidency

This study presents an analysis of the presidency in Botswana from 1966 to 2013. It explores the character of presidential power, how that power has been used since 1966 and how the presidency has changed over the past five decades. The paper traces the constitutional, institutional and external and internal socio-political dynamics that have facilitated the centralisation of power in the presidency. It further explores the relationship between the presidency and institutions established to deepen Botswana’s democracy. Lastly, it explores each President’s tenure. It concludes that the presidency remains an impediment to deeper democracy in Botswana.

PROFILES OF THE PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA 1966-2018 by Jeff Ramsay

2024

The following profiles were drafted by this author over the years for use on President’s Day and other occasions. Having been used in official and semi-official communications, with variations, they have been widely reproduced. I have assembled them together here for the convenience of readers. On a personal note, it has been this author’s privilege to have known and, to varying degrees, worked with all but two of the figures below, the exceptions being our first, President Sir Seretse Khama, and second Vice President, Lenyeletse Seretse.

The 2019 Elections in Botswana: Context, History and Future - Chris Brown

NokokoPod, 2019

This issue of NokokoPod discusses the upcoming election in Botswana. The podcast for this discussion is available on the Nokoko journal website. This conversation took place on August 28th, with Logan Cochrane and Chris Brown in Ottawa, Canada. This version of the PDF has been reviewed by Logan Cochrane and Chris Brown. In addition to the conversation, a set of annotations have been added as footnotes so as to strengthen the value of these publications and enable them to act as a resource for listeners and readers who want to have additional context and/or find additional resources on the topics discussed.

Stagnation of a 'Miracle': Botswana’s Governance Record Revisited

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Botswana has been dubbed an "African miracle." The country has been praised not only for maintaining a multiparty system and high growth rates since independence but also for its good governance record. In contrast to other African countries, the extent of neopatrimonialism, which runs counter to good governance, is said to be low. This article aims to a) precisely assess Botswana's neopatrimonial profile and b) put forward explanations for the comparatively low level of neopatrimonialism and for the recent "stagnation of a miracle." The paper finds that there have always been neopatrimonial tendencies in Botswana, though they have been largely overlooked by mainstream analyses. The crucial difference is the limited nature of these tendencies relative to other African countries. This can be attributed to the independence period, characterized by the homogeneity of political, economic, and administrative interests in safeguarding private property rights through a "strong" rational-legal state, that is, by limiting neopatrimonialism. Financed by massive revenues stemming from diamonds, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), and the Bank of Botswana, the government of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) was able to secure its reign through the provision of public goods and limited neopatrimonial exchange relations. However, due to decreasing electoral dominance and elite cohesion, the ruling party is now reverting to some neopatrimonial and authoritarian means in order to safeguard its rule.

Elections in Botswana: A Ritual Enterprise?

The Open Area Studies Journal, 2011

Botswana has the reputation of being Africa's longest surviving democracy having held uninterrupted elections at five year intervals since the pre-independence elections of 1965. The latest elections were held in October 2009. Although in democratic discourse it is assumed and/or expected that the holding of regular free, fair and competitive multiparty elections should provide an opportunity of regime change, this has so far not materialized in Botswana. The country is therefore a dominant-party system with only one political party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), having won all the elections held so far. This paper argues that there is nothing inherently undemocratic with people voting for the same political party provided the political playing field is level. A number of factors are advanced to explain the dominance of the BDP in the country's politics. These include, inter alia, the perceived delivery of the ruling party, the politics of patronage, advantages of incumbency and other factors related to the culture of Batswana. Having said this, it is concluded that recent political events in the country point towards the emergence of a new undemocratic culture which may result in the reversal of the system of one-party dominance. Thus, it is argued that the dominance of the BDP in the country's politics is likely to be seriously challenged in the not too distant future.

Botswana’s Governance Record Revisited

2009

The GIGA Working Papers series serves to disseminate the research results of work in progress prior to publication in order to encourage the exchange of ideas and academic debate. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. Inclusion of a paper in the GIGA Working Papers series does not constitute publication and should not limit publication in any other venue. Copyright remains with the authors. When working papers are eventually accepted by or published in a journal or book, the correct citation reference and, if possible, the corresponding link will then be included on the GIGA Working Papers website at <www.giga-hamburg.de/ workingpapers>. GIGA research unit responsible for this issue:

Political trust in Botswanas executive presidency: The Khama era

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 2018

This article examines political trust in the institution of the presidency. It focuses on the Khama era and aims to find out the underlying motivations to trust the president. Using the Afrobarometer surveys, the paper finds that Batswana are more likely to distrust the president if they perceive high levels of corruption, poor government performance and are dissatisfied with democracy. Partisanship is important in trust for president and the most significant finding is that supporters of the Botswana Democratic Party have lost confidence in the president.

Botswana at 50: democratic deficit, elite corruption and poverty in the midst of plenty

Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2017

Botswana, a much vaunted African success story, turned 50 on the 30th of September 2016, amidst much pomp and ceremony. The tagline for the occasion was Botswana50: United and Proud. So, are Batswana united and proud? Colonised by Britain in 1885, Botswana (then called Bechuanaland) seldom rose beyond the status of a labour reserve for South Africa throughout the colonial period (Parsons 1984). At independence in 1966, Botswana was listed among the world's poorest nations, and labelled as a 'hopeless basket case' (Colclough and McCarthy 1980). Despite more than 80 years of colonial rule, Botswana inherited very little in the form of infrastructure and was left with very few people with high levels of education, training or public service experience (Harvey and Lewis 1990; Good and Taylor 2008). As a protectorate, the country had been ruled indirectly, from Mafeking in South Africa, by a colonial power who aimed to do 'as little in the way of administration as possible and keep the cost of their involvement in Bechuanaland to a minimum' (British government official in Colclough and McCarthy 1980). When Britain handed over power at independence, it left the country with '7 km of tarred road and a capital that amounted to little more than a railway station' (Cropley 2016). Less than a year later, diamonds had been found at Orapa, and the county was on its way towards becoming one of the continent's most celebrated 'success stories'. At 50, looking back, it is hard to see a Botswana that would shower its colonial British parents with praise for good parenting. It feels more like an infancy at an orphanage, or being the child of an absentee parent. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has won every election since independence, when it was shepherded into power by the British, who had built up the BDP as opposition to the more radical nationalist Botswana People's Party, which was linked to the African National Congress and seen as pro-communist (Mogalakwe 1997). In the absence of employment opportunities inside the country, the colonial system of Hut Tax had pushed more than 30% of Botswana's labour force to seek work in South Africa as migrant workers, where they generally worked in mines and factories, or as domestic servants. Since independence, Botswana's rate of domestic employment has grown (Harvey and Lewis 1990), but the job market still remains somewhat limited, with the state having done little to successfully promote diversification of the country's economy, which remains heavily diamond dependent (