Escaping the Resource Curse: the Sources of Institutional Quality In
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-8-2013 Escaping the Resource Curse: The ourS ces of Institutional Quality in Botswana Angela Gapa Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI13120605 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the African Studies Commons, Comparative Politics Commons, International Relations Commons, and the Other International and Area Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gapa, Angela, "Escaping the Resource Curse: The ourS ces of Institutional Quality in Botswana" (2013). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1019. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1019 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida ESCAPING THE RESOURCE CURSE: THE SOURCES OF INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY IN BOTSWANA A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Angela Gapa 2013 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Angela Gapa, and entitled Escaping the Resource Curse: The Sources of Institutional Quality in Botswana, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _________________________________________ Felix Martin __________________________________________ Shlomi Dinar __________________________________________ Caroline Faria __________________________________________ John F. Clark, Major Professor Date of Defense: November 8, 2013 The dissertation of Angela Gapa is approved. __________________________________________ Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences _________________________________________ Dean Lakshmi Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2013 ii © Copyright 2013 by Angela Gapa All rights reserved. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first and foremost thank my parents, Pheneas and Otilia Gapa for believing in me and for always supporting my dreams, no matter the sacrifice. Thank you to my siblings: Cherub, Tatenda and Tadiwanashe, for your love and support. I would like to especially thank my dissertation advisor, Dr. John F. Clark, for your insights, your wisdom, your support, your encouragement and your friendship. Special Thanks: To my committee members, Dr. Felix Martin, Dr. Shlomi Dinar and Dr. Caroline Faria for all your critiques your insights, your time, and your commitment. To the Department of Politics and International relations for being my home for the last six years. To the University Graduate School for awarding me the Dissertation Acquisition Fellowship which enabled me to travel to Gaborone, Botswana. To Dr. Jean Rahier and AADS for travel funding to Botswana. To Dr. Thomas Breslin for your support, to Dr. Paul Kowert, Dr. Harry Gould and Dr. Ronald Cox for organizational support. To Michelle Real, Martha Rodriguez and Kimberly Noy for administrative support. To the Office of the President of the Republic of Botswana for offering me permission to study their beautiful country. To the faculty and staff of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana for hosting me while dong my research. To the staff at the University of Botswana Library. iv To the Ministry of Foreign and International Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. To the House of Chiefs (Ntlo ya DiKgosi) To the CEO and staff of De Beers Botswana. To the CEO and staff of Debswana. To the leaders and members of the Botswana Democratic Party, Botswana National Front and Botswana Congress Party for allowing me to interview you. To Dr. Lydia Nyati-Saleshando for patiently and promptly responding to all my emails. To all my friends and family. I cannot name you all, but you all know this was more than just an academic endeavor for me. It was a spiritual journey as well. And I would not have accomplished it without your help. And to God, who makes all things possible. v DEDICATION To my Parents, Pheneas and Otilia Gapa, For entrusting me with your legacy. I hereby pass it on With love vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ESCAPING THE RESOURCE CURSE: THE SOURCES OF INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY IN BOTSWANA by Angela Gapa Florida International University, 2013 Miami, Florida Professor John F. Clark, Major Professor Botswana has recently garnered analytic attention as an anomaly of the “resource curse” phenomenon. Worldwide, countries whose economies are highly skewed towards a dependence on the export of non-renewable natural resources such as oil, diamonds and uranium, have been among the most troubled, authoritarian, poverty-stricken and conflict-prone; a phenomenon widely regarded as the “resource curse". The resource curse explains the varying fortunes of countries based on their resource wealth, with resource-rich countries faring much worse than their resource-poor counterparts. However, Botswana, with diamond exports accounting for 50percent of government revenues and 80percent of total exports, has achieved one of the fastest economic growth rates in the developing world in the last 50 years. Furthermore, the Freedom House ranks it as the safest, most stable, least corrupt and most democratic country on sub-Saharan Africa. In attempting to answer why Botswana apparently escaped the “resource curse”, this research assumes that both formal and informal institutions within the state acted as intermediary variables in determining its fortune. This research thus addresses the deeper vii question of where Botswana obtained its unique institutional quality that facilitated its apparent escape of the resource curse. It traces Botswana’s history through four lenses: legitimacy and historical continuity, political culture, ethnicity and identity management, and external relations; as having explanatory value in understanding the Botswana exception. The research finds most evidence of Botswana’s institutional quality emanating from the country’s political culture which it found more compatible with the institutions of development and democracy that facilitate both positive economic and political outcomes. It also found evidence of legitimacy and historical continuity facilitating the robustness of both formal and informal institutions in Botswana, and identity management through assimilation as having buffered against the effects of ethnically motivated resource plunder. It however, found the least support for the assertion that external relations contributed to institutional quality. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER ONE: .................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH QUESTION ...........................................................1 The Case of Botswana: Escaping the Resource Curse .................................................... 5 Hypotheses and Overview of Remaining Chapters ......................................................... 9 Research Design, Methods and Data Collection Techniques ....................................... 15 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 17 CHAPTER TWO: ..............................................................................................................19 LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ..................................19 The “Resource Curse” ........................................................................................................19 THE THREE RESOURCE CURSES ................................................................................21 The Curse of Underdevelopment ............................................................................... 21 The Curse of Authoritarianism .................................................................................. 28 The Curse of Violent Conflict ................................................................................... 33 INSTITUTIONS AND THE RESOURCE CURSE ..........................................................37 Defining Institutions ...................................................................................................... 42 Defining Institutional Quality ....................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER THREE ...........................................................................................................50 LEGITIMACY AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTINUITY IN BOTSWANA ...................50 Chapter’s Theoretical Framework: The Concept of Legitimacy .................................. 52 CONTINUITY AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEGITIMACY IN BOTSWANA ......56 Pre-Colonial Botswana .................................................................................................. 57 Early Political Organization ..................................................................................... 57 Later Political Organization ..................................................................................... 61 Colonial Bechuanaland