The Kgotla and the State in Botswana: Instrument of the People or the Technocrats?

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There is much to like about the Tswana system of the Kgotla, essentially open public forums where anyone may have their say on the issues of the day. In contemporary times, they are utilised by the State as places for public consultation and the ruling BDP party favour the Kgotla as a means of connecting with the public. Nevertheless they are still somewhat unique spaces of oratory and participation where anyone, no matter their position in society may speak. There is a idea that such a system represents a unbroken chain of democratic governance, stretching back to the pre-modern era.

UNDP visits a Kgotla…democracy or ceremony?
References
Booth, D. (2011) Aid effectiveness: bringing country ownership (and politics) back in.
Comoroff, J. Comoroff, J. (2012) Theory from the South: Or, how Euro-America is Evolving towards Africa.
Chatterjee, P. (2004). Politics of the Governed.
Kamola, I. (2013) Why Global ? Diagnosing the Globalization Literature Within a Political Economy of Higher Education.
Gulbrandsen, Ø. (2012). The State and the Social: State Formation in Botswana and its Precolonial and Colonial Genealogies.
Santos, B. (2014) Epistemologies of the South.
Sanyal, K. (2007) Rethinking Capitalist Development.

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