An African Success Story: Botswana - Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson (2003) Flashcards
average per capita annual growth since 1960s
7%
per capita income 4x the SSA average with living standards comparable to Mexico
circumstances in the 1960s
country only had two secondary schools and 100 secondary school graduates
12km of paved roads
tropical, landlocked and arid (prone to drought)
high income/wealth inequality
lots of natural resources (diamonds)
Botswana vs. Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone looked more economically promising in the 1960s with agricultural resources, natural port and oldest English-language university in West Africa but had much less success
Botswana also close to SA so proximity to a big market through trade
totally different economic and political trajectories
- Sierra Leone as one of the poorest countries in the world with political instability and civil war
- Botswana has rapid economic growth and political stability with democratisation
history and politics
Tswana share a nearly identical language and history with nearby Lesotho, which has the same population but a different economic and political trajectory
- so not just something different about the ancient culture of Botswana
untouched by the slave trade (Nunn 2010)
political unity reinforced in warfare against the Zulus and Boers in the early 1800s, and then later when they resisted direct rule by SA and Cecil Rhodes
- resisting white encroachment which was different from their neighbours
- maintained a large degree of political independence
Botswana as a protectorate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
- largely neglected by the British
- not a direct colony of the crown so maintained more authority
- not seen as an attractive colony because of the desert and arid environment
Seretse Khama’s reforms
elected President at independence in 1966 with the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)
- pro-rural party
carried out economic policies in the interest of rural producers
- big investments post-independence in slaughterhouses, vets, etc.
between 1967-1970, actively strengthened the central government
- abolishing traditional rights of chiefs (rights to allocate land and over mineral wealth)
- allowed the state to remove chiefs
- power centralised in a modern bureaucratic state
not personally corrupt, tolerated opposition groups and an independent media
generally pro-rural, pro-cattle agricultural policies
- also pro-market, pursued conservative macroeconomic policies and encouraged foreign investment in mineral extraction
AJR’s reasons for why Botswana succeeded
representative pre-colonial institutions, with institutional checks/balances
- tradition of assemblies where the community could question chiefs and elders
lack of slave trading and limited colonialism left existing institutions intact and largely legitimate
rural economic interests were politically powerful
- pro-agriculture policies
huge diamond and other mineral income
- mineral wealth is well-managed
visionary nation-building decisions by post-independence leaders
heavy involvement of the state in the economy
- central government expenditure over 40% of GDP recently
limits to Botswana’s success
public health policy
- among the highest rates of HIV infection in the world since the 1980s (>20%)
income inequality higher than other SSA countries even though rates of extreme poverty are lower from economic growth
concerns about creeping authoritarianism
- same party has always won
additional questions about Botswana
why did they succeed when Lesotho failed?
- is it all about good leadership?
was their collaboration with apartheid SA key to their success?
- extensive trade, investment, proximity and currency union
is it about their relative ethnic homogeneity?
- easier to find political consensus
lack of exposure tot he slave trade?
how did they manage their resource wealth so much better than other countries?
