ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the debate about democratic development in Botswana. It describes the peasantariat and the likelihood of its continued existence and importance in the foreseeable future. The chapter argues that the conditions are necessary but not sufficient to the theory and analysis of democracy in Botswana and that the basic assumption of society being based on consensus needs to be directly challenged. The concept of democracy and democratic development is on the public and political agenda in Botswana. The analysis of government policy shows disproportionate benefits accruing to bourgeois class strata because of that strata’s control of political institutions. The organization and activities of political parties and interest groups similarly emerge as direct expressions of the dominant bourgeoisie. Political parties, the electoral system, and the decision-making institutions of government are shown to be less democratic because they are structured by the bourgeoisie in that way to the disadvantage of the dominated classes.
