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Medientyp:
E-Artikel
Titel:
Navigating the 'Neutral' State: 'Minority' Rights in Botswana
Beteiligte:
Solway, Jacqueline S.
Erschienen:
Carfax Publishing, Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2002
Erschienen in:Journal of Southern African Studies
Sprache:
Englisch
ISSN:
0305-7070;
1465-3893
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
<p>This article analyses the rise of minority struggles in Botswana. It traces the development of these struggles from the relatively isolated and muted complaints of non-Tswana to the organised, sophisticated and effective political movements that are seeking to render the state more inclusive. This transition, which has occurred over approximately one decade, culminated in a Presidential Commission and a White Paper proposing constitutional change as well as the redrawing and renaming of internal geographic units. In provoking intense media coverage and open discussion, the issue has saturated the public sphere. This article traces the roots of these struggles and analyses the conditions that enabled their development. In the Botswana case, it is argued that state institutions fostered the development of minority activism, not - as in the scenario most frequently depicted for Africa - by their failings, but rather by their effectiveness. I highlight citizens' abstract trust in rationalised bureaucratic structures as laying the basis for minority self-identification and empowerment. In creating effective institutions, the state produced the conditions for its own challenge and provided an orderly means by which dissenting parties could proceed. The various ways minority groups have agitated for change are presented here and case material is provided. In addition, the article raises questions regarding the capacity of liberal states to grant rights simultaneously to both individuals and collectives. It asks to what extent states can recognise and grant rights to both while promoting social justice on the one hand, and maintaining their own integrity, on the other.</p>