Botswana's Search for Autonomy in Southern Africa
A long-term specialist on Southern African affairs explores the history of conflict and cooperation—showing how a landlocked small state reduced its dependency upon its neighbors in a strategically important part of Southern Africa. Drawing upon first-hand information and primary sources—interviews, personal letters, newspaper reports, archival materials, among others—this analysis of low-high politics from colonial days and independence to the present defines how political leaders and citizenry made Bostwana one of the few stable democracies in Africa—one that has improved its economy and international standing over the last quarter century. Students, scholars, and policymakers concerned with world politics, international political economy, and African studies will find this study important for understanding the foreign policy options and policies of small and weak states today in Africa and in the international arena.
RICHARD DALE, Associate Professor of Political Science, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, has been engaged in research about Southern Africa for over 30 years. He has visited Botswana and done research there and in four neighboring states on five different occasions and has written at length on the region.