Abstract Unlike many of its African neighbours, Botswana achieved levels of socio-economic development in spite of its abundant mineral wealth. Botswana’s effective management of its mineral resources also aided in its avoidance of the resource curse and corresponding weak institutions. The contribution of Botswana’s mineral wealth to its development best characterizes the country as a “resource-rich developmental state.” However, the correlation between democratic principles and institutions to Botswana’s developmental success was unclear. This paper examines the connection between democracy and development in Botswana by relying on the “thin” versus “thick” spectrum of democratic institutions expounded by Mariana Prado, Mario Schapiro, and Diogo Coutinho. The paper argues that Botswana’s institutions are not democratically “thick”; therefore, democracy and “good” governance, as its conceived neoliberally, do not explain Botswana’s development outcomes. Instead, this paper contends that David Trubek, Diogo Coutinho, and Mario Schapiro’s “legal functionalities” framework, which credits the success of development policies to four roles the legal system could play: (i) safeguarding flexibility, (ii) stimulating orchestration, (iii) framing synergy, and (iv) ensuring legitimacy, is better suited to explain the success of Botswana’s resource-rich developmental state.

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博茨瓦纳的善政与发展–民主难题

摘要与许多非洲邻国不同，博茨瓦纳尽管拥有丰富的矿产资源，但仍实现了社会经济发展水平。博茨瓦纳对其矿产资源的有效管理还有助于避免资源诅咒和相应的薄弱机构。博茨瓦纳的矿产资源对其发展的贡献最能说明该国是“资源丰富的发展国家”。但是，民主原则和体制与博茨瓦纳的发展成功之间的相关性尚不清楚。本文通过依靠玛丽安娜·普拉多，马里奥·沙皮罗和迪奥戈·库蒂尼奥阐述的民主制度的“薄”与“厚”谱，研究了博茨瓦纳民主与发展之间的联系。该论文认为，博茨瓦纳的机构不是民主的“厚实”的；它是民主的。所以，民主和“善”治，正如新自由主义所设想的那样，并不能解释博茨瓦纳的发展成果。相反，本文认为David Trubek，Diogo Coutinho和Mario Schapiro的“法律功能”框架将发展政策的成功归功于法律体系可以发挥的四个作用：（i）维护灵活性，（ii）刺激编排，（ iii）建立协同作用，以及（iv）确保合法性，更适合于解释博茨瓦纳资源丰富的发展状态的成功。