“This is the inaugural Democracy Index for Botswana and is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against in the future. It has several aims, the first of which is to set out evidence affirming Botswana’s credentials as a democracy. It goes on to demonstrate that Botswana is actually a minimalist democracy: a system that does as little as possible to engender participation, transparency, access to social support, accountability and human rights, among other things. It then notes emerging calls for change based on persistent signs of disagreement with the status quo. The importance of these is their multiplicity of tactics and broadness of base, putting in question the image of Botswana as a stable democracy. Thereafter it points the way forward by predicting some future areas of contestation, which include the Constitution, socio-economic issues, governance and corruption.”
