Monopoly Politikos: How Botswana's Opposition Parties Have Helped Sustain One-Party Dominance

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Periodical article

Title:	Monopoly Politikos: How Botswana's Opposition Parties Have Helped Sustain One-Party Dominance
Author:	Selolwane, Onalenna D.
Year:	2002
Periodical:	African Sociological Review (ISSN 1027-4332)
Volume:	6
Issue:	1
Pages:	68-90
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs., ills., maps
Geographic terms:	Botswana Southern Africa
Subjects:	opposition parties one-party systems Politics and Government politics Botswana Democratic Party elections political systems political participation
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/24487673
Abstract:	In Botswana, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has governed for more than thirty years. Despite free elections and adherence to the rule of law, there are still many obstacles in the political system that undermine the quality and meaningfulness of electoral choice. One of these is the inability of the opposition parties to respond to electoral need by offering a meaningful alternative. The opposition parties made a number of strategic errors which rendered them electorally unattractive before they could establish their legitimacy as contenders for government power. Through their strategic and ideological weaknesses the opposition parties, in particular the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP), until its political eclipse in 1984, and the Botswana National Front (BNF), have contributed to ineffectual contestation of the ruling mandate. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.