Botswana’s Foreign Policv Shift Under Ian Khama(2008-2018):from "Silent-friendly" To "Loud And Decidedly Abrasive"

For the past 10 years(2008-2018),the Republic of Botswana’s foreign policy has caused perplexity not only to the general public of Botswana but also to the rest of the world.The shift of Botswana’s foreign policy from the "silent friendly" approach which was adopted by the three forerunner Presidents(Sir Seretse Khama,Sir Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae)of Botswana to the "loud and abrasive" approach which came along with the Ian Khama(the son of Sir Seretse Khama)administration has had many political analysts both in and around Botswana guessing on its next move.The shift to the new approach instigated by Ian Khama has had everyone flabbergasted especially on how the country was progressing with the previous foreign policy which was first instigated by his father.Domestically many articles have been written concerning this ambiguous new approach of loud-abrasive and the sceptical behaviour the country has portrayed to the globe in recent years.These include among others,adoption of the megaphone diplomacy used to shun other African leaders for refusing to relinquish power peacefully;shunning of the multilateral institutes apparently for failing to do their job(the United Nation and African Union)and publicly through statements condemning others states for violating human rights and acting unethically.There seem to be many questions of uncertainty concerning Botswana’s foreign policy with Khama’s regime on how he has been conducting relationships with his neighbours,regional body(Southern African Development Community),Continental body(AU)and international Forums among others the UN conferences and Forums of China Africa Cooperation(FOCAC)."Some critics have ridiculed the policy and described it rather unflatteringly as\megaphone diplomacy’ while others see the country’s animated response to international issues as little more than futile theatrics."① The new approach by Ian Khama which seemed to be defined by moral principles came to many as a shock for the fact that the neighbouring country(South Africa)in the 1990s after independence tried the same foreign policy and soon found itself isolated but still Ian Khama went ahead with it.But what seems to have influenced this change in foreign policy?The main purpose of the study was to establish the influence the President has in shaping Botswana’s foreign policy.This paper aimed to discover and explore the influence of this redirection of foreign policy of Botswana from silent-friendly to loud-abrasive;to find out and analyze the effects of this approach(loud-abrasive)in relation to the outside world and lastly to discover the effectiveness of this approach(loud-abrasive)in addressing the country’s core interest(security and economy).The theory used in this investigation is the individual level of analysis.The level of analysis primary takes an actor specific approach to International relations based upon the premise that all states actions and interaction are grounded in human decision-makers acting singly or in a group.It is for this reason that the head of state has to be analyzed to see his/her influence in shaping the state foreign policy.This is because he is the one who makes the state decisions on behalf of the whole nation.Under this theory of the individual level of analysis,two other sub-theories have been derived from it.These are the rational actor choice and cognitive approach.The first 3 presidents of Botswana have been identified under the rational actor theory through the use of the silent-friendly approach.This is due to their ability to adapt to environmental changes for the interest of the nation.Khama,on the other hand,has been classified under cognitive through the loud-abrasive approach.This is due to his lack of sacrificing his belief for the benefit of the nation and failure to resist change.The hypothesis formed is that Botswana’s foreign policy is largely influenced by the Presidents characters,beliefs and background which might have been adopted from the military.Khama’s 5D’s of democracy,development,dignity and discipline and delivery that he outlined when he was appointed for Presidency strengthen his resolve and confidence to the expectation that states should exercise discipline by adhering to and upholding,democratic principles.Therefore,Khama’s foreign policy has been observed to be aligned with discipline which many scholars believe was influenced by the military background as discipline is a key component of militaryThe research is both descriptive and exploratory.It is descriptive in that it was used to collect,organize and summarize information of the history of Botswana’s foreign policy since independence till 2008 the year Ian Khama got in the Presidential seat.The use of the exploratory was best suited to have an in-depth analysis of Botswana’s foreign policy,the impact it had with Botswana’s engagement with the rest of the world and lastly the effectiveness of the loud-abrasive in addressing the country’s core interest.Questionnaires and interview were established to extract information from the initial 120 people in the target population.100 people were used in extracting information in which 20 were interviews and 80 filled the questionnaires from the University of Botswana,Political science staff and students,Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the general public with expert analysis of foreign policy.Expert sampling was used to gather information and obtains an expert analysis of Botswana’s foreign policyThe research study was set to find out the possible explanation of Botswana’s apparent shift of foreign policy from its traditional silent-friendly approach to a loud and decidedly abrasive approach.It was established that,just as the transition of Presidency from Festus Mogae and other Presidents before him to Ian Khama,there was also a change/transition in the country’s foreign policy behaviour.The study was seeking to discover and explore the influence of Botswana’s foreign policy from silent-friendly to loud-abrasive.It also was seeking to find out and analyze the effects of this policy shift concerning Botswana and her relation with the outside world.Lastly,the research was seeking to discover and assess the effectiveness of the loud-abrasive approach in addressing Botswana’s core interests.The research findings on the first objective of the influence of Botswana’s foreign policy shift from silent-friendly to loud abrasive were:Majority of the respondents at 82%strongly believes that Botswana foreign policy shift was influenced by Ian Khama’s military background and character.This opinion was bolstered by those who believe Botswana’s foreign policy change was influenced by the mass migration of Zimbabwe to Botswana after the election riots at 8%and 10%who believe Khama used his policy as a smoke screen to hide his wrong doings back home.The findings of the research concurs with the hypothesis that Ian Khama’s character and background played a key role in influencing the state’s foreign policyOn the objective of finding out and analyzing the effects of this policy shift concerning Botswana and the outside world,the study established that the new approach has done more damage to Botswana’s relation with the outside world than good.The study established that some political analysts believe the loud and abrasive instigated by Khama has painted the country to be paternalistic to Africa thereby isolating the country in important issues.Additionally the approach hurt Botswana’s diplomatic relations with other and multilateral organizations like the SADC,AU,FOCAC and UN that has assisted Botswana in elevating it to become a state it is today.It also established that some political analysts believe the new approach has brought positivity in the sense that Botswana is a shining example of democracy;therefore,its foreign policy has highlighted that.The new approach has made the country’s presence be felt in the international arena.The majority of respondents at 80%gave the opinion that the shift has caused more harm than good which agrees with the hypothesis of this investigation.While the remaining 20%believe the approach was necessary to set Botswana as shining example in AfricaOn the final objective of discovering and assessing the effectiveness of the loud and abrasive in addressing the country’s national interests,the study established that the majority of respondents at 50%are of the view that the loud and abrasive approach did not address country’s national interest while the in the remaining 50%,23%respondents reflected that the Khama’s loud and abrasive approach partly address the country’s interest while 27%reflected that the Khama’s policy did not whatsoever address any interest to the state but rather his interests.the study’s hypothesis was spot on because the research findings highlighted what the researcher hypothesized.