ABSTRACT
The fundamental secret of East Asia's economic success has been entrepreneurial states that governed and guided these societies' developmental agenda. In contrast, African states undermined their societies' vitality. African regimes' failure to induce sustained economies has immeasurably legitimated the last two decades' anti-statist policy agenda. Unfortunately, the minimalist state strategy of recent years has not enabled Africa to recover lost ground. The only exceptions to Africa's economic involution are the island states of Seychelles, Mauritius and the southern African nation of Botswana. Botswana maintained an annual growth rate comparable to East Asia's best performers during the years 1966–95. Botswana's performance for the last eight years has been modest but it has kept pace with its Asian rivals (Table 9.1).
