diff --git a/dopy/manager.py b/dopy/manager.py
index 83c53bd..0f82d70 100755
--- a/dopy/manager.py
+++ b/dopy/manager.py
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@
 
 API_ENDPOINT = 'https://api.digitalocean.com'
 
+try:
+    basestring
+except NameError:
+    basestring = str
+
 class DoError(RuntimeError):
     pass