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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Politics of Poverty in Botswana |
Author: | Maundeni, Zibani |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | Botswana Notes and Records (ISSN 0525-5090) |
Volume: | 35 |
Pages: | 99-109 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Botswana Southern Africa |
Subjects: | Botswana Democratic Party State inequality Politics and Government Economics and Trade Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Economics, Commerce poverty Social indicators Economic equity political science |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/40980343 |
Abstract: | For many years Botswana has achieved both a fast growing economy and worsening socioeconomic inequalities. Botswana's successful development and the widening social inequalities are largely functions of the conservative developmentally-oriented political elements which constitute the ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party. The BDP has largely operated as an elitist party, shielding itself from welfare-oriented politics and sharpening its capitalist developmental outlook. Institutionally, the BDP built a State in which the bureaucracy and the ruling party colonized one another and placed the latter at the centre of State power. Many top bureaucrats from the developmental ministries have retired into BDP ranks as cabinet members. For this reason, bureaucrats in the powerful ministries regard the regime's institutions as the BDP's constituency. And because the BDP regime established its legitimacy on economic development, this is the goal which the bureaucrats in the powerful ministries aim to achieve. Botswana needs to incorporate socioeconomic inequalities centrally in its development plans and reform the State structurally to meet redistribution needs. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |