Professor
Valverde
ASA 189F
National Aesthetics
18 February
2017
Week
7 Blog – Botswana and Good Governance
In the reading, Botswana’s Success: Good Governance, Good Policies, and
Good Luck by Michael Lewin, Botswana remade itself through measures such as
human development, diamonds and good luck, good governance and economic
management (i.e., leadership and property rights and rules of law),
respectively. Success is evident in terms of a measure of human development in
infrastructure, health, and education. The growth of Botswana was due to the
discovery of diamond and good luck. Botswana’s leadership is a success in
designing and fostering the condition of governance that ensured stability,
social, and economic progress. The government established respect for property
rights and the rules of law, as well as maintained a high degree of
transparency. It is reinforced by the Tswana tribal condition of consultation
or kgotla, which is known to create trust in the government, to have the
government exist to serve the people, promote development of the country, and
to not be used for the purpose of acquiring wealth; therefore, Tswana tradition
respect private property (Lewin 85). Additionally, property rights and rules of
law are key factors in explaining growth and development success because a
democratic government is more likely to be responsive to developmental needs,
to settle disputes peacefully, and respect the rule of law. Moreover, Botswana
remade itself through promoting a shift from casual and budget tourists, such
as campers in a wilderness area to a ‘highbrow,’ ‘elitists’ or richer tourist
industry that is foreign dominated. Having an elitist tourist industry would
benefit Botswana economically. The problem with this tourism is that it
excludes local people from participation and receiving benefits from tourism
through higher costs of investments, thus indirectly promoting an entry for
rich foreign tourism companies.
According to Poverty or riches: who benefits from the booming tourism
industry in Botswana? by Joseph E. Mbaiwa, with the problem of elitists tourist
industry, Botswana could achieve maximum “national aesthetics” status by
maintaining sustainability in tourism development where citizens and locals
participate and acquiring meaningful benefits from tourism (2017). Because
tourism industry is convoluted, fragmented, multi-sectoral, and profit-oriented
in nature, sustainable tourism strategies in practice should be practiced on
local and small developmental project. This approach is much more realistic and
practical, and not idealistic. Nevertheless, Botswana should have a holistic
and integrates approach to their tourism development. Approaches for Botswana
tourism policies are to be sustainable, holistic, and balance the interests of
multiple uses and users, respectively. Having domestic tourism and citizen
participation in tourism is needed in order to achieve access into tourism
industry by Botswana’s citizens.
The steps my group and I plan to take to have our project approved by power-holders
would be to cater the interest of the Bhutanese’s wants in environmental
sustainability, respect for culture and religion to folks who are
environmentally conscientious, and culturally sensitive to Bhutanese culture.
We need support from the Bhutanese government, Bhutanese people, and Bhutanese
industry [e.g., travel agents] in order for this to happen.
In connection to the readings to the theme of the week of Botswana and
Good Governance, current events outside of class such as Bhutan fits this.
Bhutan made a colossal change in transitioning from an absolute monarchy to a
constitutional monarchy. Moreover, the fifth King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar
Namgyel Wangchuk promoted their national aesthetic as the notion of gross
national happiness (GNH). Furthermore, the Bhutanese government is strict on
tourism because they want to lessen environmental devastation from tourists,
which explains why it is costly to do tourism in Bhutan—ranging from $200-$250
per day. Approaches for Bhutan tourism are cultural preservation, environmental
sustainability, and holistic wellness. For example, according to the
Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Article 8 Fundamental Duties (point 2),
it states that, “We [Bhutanese] commit ourselves to keep absorbing more carbon
than we emit – and to maintain our country’s status as a net sink for GHG” (pp.
16). [Question:] Can a country maintain a law-abiding government and not have
any form of conflict and ‘predatory’ government?
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Bibliography
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Levin,
Michael. "Botswana's Success: Good Governance, Good Policies, and Good
Luck." (n.d.): 81-
89. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
<https://canvas.ucdavis.edu/courses/72045/files/folder/Readings/Week7?
preview=775711>.
Mbaiwa, Joseph
E. "Poverty or riches: who benefits from the booming tourism industry in
Botswana?” (n.d.): 1-20. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. <
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2016.1270424>.
"The
Constitution of Bhutan." N.p., 18 July 2008. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.
<http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/bt/bt004en.pdf>.
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