Understanding government and opposition parties in Botswana

This paper discusses the relationship between the ruling party and opposition parties in the struggle to capture political power in Botswana. It demonstrates the resilience of the multi‐party framework that is founded on the basic principles of political freedom and civil liberty. Moreover, it explains how the poverty of ideology has presented a political landscape without any clear political alternatives. More concretely, it outlines the weaknesses of opposition parties, that they do not pose any serious challenge to the ruling party. However, in spite of their weaknesses, opposition parties have played a more constructive role in shaping the democratic process than has commonly been recognised. They have provided important checks and balances to make government more accountable and responsive to peoples’ needs, yet they have not projected themselves as alternative governments.