Botswana in the Modern World-System
Cód:
491_9783640386673
Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Africa, grade: 78, Stellenbosch Universitiy, course: Comparative Political Economy, 18 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Botswana is described as the African miracle (Samatar, 1999), as an exception(Good, 1992), or as a rare example of an African state that used its bonanza ofmineral riches wisely (Meredith, 2006:285). However, critique verbalized by Taylor(2003) and Good (1992) has shown that Botswanas economic history is not a puresuccess story; even it illustrates a positive example of African developmentcompared to almost all the other African countries. To analyze Botswanas economichistory I will date back to the beginning of the 1900s. At this time, Botswanas eightmain chiefdoms dominated regional African trade. The indigenous elite welcomedtrade with European settlers who arrived in this period. While Botswanas neighborcountries experienced the process of incorporation into the modern world-economyalready, Botswana started to shift into the external arena of the global economy. Thisessay will show how Botswana is and has incorporated into the modern worldeconomyreferred to Immanuel Wallersteins modern world-system theory. I will startwith an overview about Botswanas actual trade situation to be able to locate thecountry within the global division of labor. Afterwards the paper analyses the historyof Botswanas shift into the external arena of the modern world-system followed by itsincorporation. Furthermore, I will illustrate Botswanas economic development sincethe incorporation. A second part of Botswanas history deals with the economy-basedclass structure and how it shaped the political history since Botswana achievedpolitical independence in 1966. I will argue that the class structure, as alreadyindicated, has to be understood in the context of pre-colonial and colonialdevelopment. After all, I will point out what i
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