Africana Periodical Literature 
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| Title: | Class and Effective State Institutions: The Botswana Meat Commission |
| Authors: | Samatar, Abdi I. Oldfield, Sophie |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
| Volume: | 33 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Period: | December |
| Pages: | 651-668 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Botswana |
| Subjects: | social classes meat public enterprises Economics and Trade Politics and Government Development and Technology Law, Human Rights and Violence |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/161826 |
| Abstract: | In sharp contrast to what has transpired elsewhere in Africa, the dominant class in Botswana has firmly protected its collective interest. Here, the State has for nearly three decades been under the tutelage of a class conscious of both its role and interest, which as a result went about building public institutions capable of nurturing capitalist accumulation. One of the most effective institutions is the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), which has expanded its production facilities while upholding stringent quality controls over the processing of beef in its operations to meet the high standards demanded by the EEC, now the European Union. After a survey of precolonial Tswana society and the emergence of a commodity-based regional political economy after colonization, the present article examines the formation and development of the BMC, its economic operations, and the lessons that may be drawn for other African countries. Most important is the appreciation by Botswana's leaders that the nurturing of the collective project of the elite need not completely deprive others of some of the benefits of good management and economic growth. Notes, ref. |
