Botswana's diamond developmental state
Botswana converted diamond discovery into public capability through state ownership of mineral rights, repeated negotiation with De Beers, the 50–50 Debswana venture, professional economic administration, development planning, and fiscal restraint. Diamond revenue financed infrastructure, education, health, and social protection instead of an enclave alone, while capital-intensive mining, inequality, minority dispossession, weak diversification, and falling natural-diamond demand reveal the sharp limits of a capable state organized around one finite rent.
How can a newly independent state capture and invest mineral rent without surrendering operating expertise, allowing private extraction to become an enclave, or consuming a finite windfall as current income?