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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | How Britain Underdeveloped Bechuanaland Protectorate: A Brief Critique of the Political Economy of Colonial Botswana |
| Author: | Mogalakwe, Monageng |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Periodical: | Africa Development: A Quarterly Journal of CODESRIA (ISSN 0850-3907) |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 66-88 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Botswana Southern Africa |
| Subjects: | protectorates colonial economy underdevelopment colonialism History and Exploration Economics and Trade Development and Technology History, Archaeology Botswana--History Botswana--Colonial influence economic history |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/24483851 |
| Abstract: | Britain declared Bechuanaland a 'protectorate' in 1885 in a move largely driven by military strategic considerations rather than by the availability of economic resources. This can give the impression that in Botswana the process of economic underdevelopment that is often associated with colonialism never took place in the 'protectorate' period. This article reveals that even in the so-called 'protectorate', the British colonial State policies subverted indigenous economic interests and stifled opportunities for indigenous private capital accumulation, while actively promoting the economic interests of a small white settler capitalist class. As a consequence, at the time of Botswana's independence in 1966, the country did not have the nucleus of an indigenous capitalist class. The article deals amongst others with the following aspects of colonial capitalism: the hut tax and the migrant labour system, the introduction of discriminatory business and commercial practices, and the use of the Tribal Treasuries to subvert and subjugate the Tswana economy. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract] |
