The political context of Botswana's development performance

The purpose of this article is to provide a persuasive account of Botswana's development performance from a historical materialist perspective. It commences by looking at commonly accepted indicators of Botswana's development record and the sources of its political stability, and explains why Botswana has been able to attain that relatively high level of development performance. The nature and character of the Botswana state are also examined, including its relationship with civil society. The changes that have taken place in Botswana's political system are also analysed but not in isolation from the broader regional and international context. It concludes by teasing out the salient features of politics in Botswana and what they imply for the country's economic growth and development in the future.