Botswana

Botswana is a liberal capitalist state in Southern Africa, bordered by South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Botswana is notable for being one of two countries in Africa that has never experienced a dictatorship or civil war (the other being Mauritius) after being decolonised by the British Empire.

Negatives

• Botswana has the third highest AIDS rate in the world, with around 20% of the population suffering from it (however, this could possibly be due to the fact that Botswana has better testing measures)
• The government mistreats the indigenous San people severely, often confiscating traditional lands and forcing them into resettlement camps
• The country is suffering severe desertification and water overuse

History

Independence

Following Indepedence, Botswana was in dire straits. The country was considered the third poorest in the world with a GDP per capita of $75 a year. There were only 12 kilometres of paved road. In addition, great natural resouces wealth (in the form of diamonds) had just been discovered

When the British left, there were 12 kilometers of paved road, 22 Batswana who had graduated from University and 100 from secondary school.2Botswana is a predominantly tropical, landlocked country (which many economists see as a disadvantage, e.g., Bloom and Sachs, 1998). It is true that diamonds have been important for growth in Botswana, and currently account for around 40 percent of the country's output. Yet, in many other countries, natural resource abundance appears to be a curse rather than a blessing (e.g., Sachs and Warner, 1995). So how did Botswana do it?