Democratic statecraft versus political legitimacy: The case of Botswana

Patrice Cailleba () and Rekha A. Kumar
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Patrice Cailleba: Groupe ESC Pau
Rekha A. Kumar: University of Botswana, Botswana

No 1002, Working Papers from Groupe ESC Pau, Research Department

Abstract: In Africa, Botswana is widely regarded as a frontrunner in democratic politics. But the local political system has been wanting in some aspects. If political legitimacy may be high in “the land of Tswanas”, in many respects political leaders have denied Botswana’s citizens a freedom to shape their political future. To understand the failure of parliamentary institutions in Botswana, we propose to study what Carl Schmitt termed “political decisionism”. Decisionism continues to be relevant to our understanding of the functioning of sovereign state in a country where the political spectrum mainly rests on ethnic and religious affiliations around a strong leader whose legitimacy goes beyond parliamentary criteria.

Keywords: Botswana; democratic; political; legitimacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2008-06, Revised 2008-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pau:wpaper:1002

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