Poisoned chalice, development aid gone wrong or just propping up a dictatorship?: The case of eSwatini

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges in understanding the political development of eSwatini has been how has this country escaped international attention and scrutiny despite having an absolute Monarchy where political parties are banned. What has been missing in studies is the relationship between external rents and European markers have played in propping up the Monarchial rule of King Mswati. This research attempts to see how a patron client state has been supported by the development aid and trade preferential agreements with the European Union. It explains how the governance system of eSwatini is linked to the sugar industry. Analytically, this study connects different bodies of literature, namely rentier state theories, neo-patrimonial states and land grabbing through the global-domestic assemblages seen in the eSwatini case.