Africa’s Miracle? Assessing Political Stability in Botswana

Abstract Botswana has defied typical predictions scholars assign to countries that are wholly dependent on natural resources. Indeed, the country has succeeded in maintaining control of its natural wealth in diamonds, while effectively using this financial boon to establish a stable society. But how did Botswana succeed where so many other resource-rich African states have failed? I argue that the most prominent factors in Botswana’s success were astute leadership capable of garnering legitimacy through strategic economic and social management; Botswana’s ethnic homogeneity and the effective construction of a national identity; as well as the overall growth in standards of living promoted by the government’s sound financial and economic decisions. Despite identifying these accomplishments, I will introduce several looming concerns for Botswana’s political situation – including the country’s high unemployment rate, over-dependence on diamonds, as well as foreign policy dynamics that could provoke tumult in the nation. In the end, this paper should provide a snapshot of Botswana’s trajectory, and the elements that contributed to its impressively peaceful political climate, as well as a note of caution regarding possible dangers on the horizon.