The Politics of Transition
The Politics of Transition

Author: Richard Spitz

Publisher: Witwatersrand University Press Publications

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13:

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During the early 1990s, South Africans kept a close eye on the media coverage of South Africa's negotiated transition to democracy. Likened to a soap opera by some, the negotiations featured violent interlopers, dramatic walkouts, alliances and, somehow, a fortunate conclusion in the form of the Interim Constitution and Bill of Rights. The importance of the negotiating process and the Interim Constitution itself should not be underestimated, however, in relation to their longer-term influence over the form of democracy currently enjoyed in South Africa. In this brave publication, Spitz and Chaskalson examine the politics behind the Kempton Park negotiations and the Interim Constitution, and the influence that these have had on the subsequent consolidation of a South African democracy.

Tomorrow Is Another Country
Tomorrow Is Another Country

Author: Allister Sparks

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1996-07

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780226768557

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He concludes with a vivid assessment of the problems facing South Africa in the new era.

Political Parties in South Africa
Political Parties in South Africa

Author: Thuynsma, Heather

Publisher: Africa Institute of South Africa

Published: 2017-11-28

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 0798305142

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Political parties and the party system that underpins South Africa’s democracy have the potential to build a cohesive and prosperous nation. But in the past few years the ANC’s dominance has strained the system and tested it and its institutions’ fortitude. There are deeper issues of accountability that often spurn the Constitution and there is also a clear need to foster meaningful public participation and transparency. This volume offers a different and detailed assessment of the health of South Africa’s political system. This study intends to unravel the condition of the party system in South Africa and culminates in the question: Do South African parties promote or hinder democracy in the country? The areas of the party system that are known to require continued work are the weakness of democratic structures within parties, the perceived lack of responsibility of elected parliamentarians towards voters, non-transparent private partner financing structures and a lack of attractiveness of party-political commitment, especially for women. Experts in the respective fields address all of these areas in this book.

The New South Africa at Twenty
The New South Africa at Twenty

Author: Peter C. J. Vale

Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781869142896

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In this book, some of South Africa's finest academic minds reflect on 20 years of democratic rule in the country. How far have South Africans really come? Is race still an entrenched issue in the country? Why does gender discrimination continue? Why are the poor in revolt? Is free expression under threat? What happened to South African Marxism? What drives Julius Malema? How have the unions experienced the post-apartheid years? These (and many other) questions are examined. Analytical and accessible, the book continues a long tradition of engaging South Africa's politics and society in a non-partisan, but critical, fashion. It opens the way for innate explanations and provides insights that lie beyond the workaday accounts usually offered by pundits. [Subject: Sociology, African Studies, Politics]

Democratic Transitions
Democratic Transitions

Author: Sergio Bitar

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 487

ISBN-13: 142141760X

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Thirteen former presidents and prime ministers discuss how they helped their countries end authoritarian rule and achieve democracy. National leaders who played key roles in transitions to democratic governance reveal how these were accomplished in Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Spain. Commissioned by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), these interviews shed fascinating light on how repressive regimes were ended and democracy took hold. In probing conversations with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, John Kufuor, Jerry Rawlings, B. J. Habibie, Ernesto Zedillo, Fidel V. Ramos, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, F. W. de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, and Felipe González, editors Sergio Bitar and Abraham F. Lowenthal focused on each leader’s principal challenges and goals as well as their strategies to end authoritarian rule and construct democratic governance. Context-setting introductions by country experts highlight each nation’s unique experience as well as recurrent challenges all transitions faced. A chapter by Georgina Waylen analyzes the role of women leaders, often underestimated. A foreword by Tunisia’s former president, Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, underlines the book’s relevance in North Africa, West Asia, and beyond. The editors’ conclusion distills lessons about how democratic transitions have been and can be carried out in a changing world, emphasizing the importance of political leadership. This unique book should be valuable for political leaders, civil society activists, journalists, scholars, and all who want to support democratic transitions.

International Mediation in the South African Transition
International Mediation in the South African Transition

Author: Zwelethu Jolobe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-04-09

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1351020560

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This book challenges the conventional understanding of South Africa’s transition to democracy as a home-grown process through a comparative analysis of Commonwealth and United Nations mediation attempts. Approaching power transition through the lens of South Africa, Zwelethu Jolobe raises questions about how methods and types of mediation are understood, and their appropriateness for certain stages of negotiation processes. International Mediation in the South African Transition calls into question the generalisations about the determinants of success by international third parties in resolving internal conflicts. It moves from the position that the success of a mediation effort depends on the examination of the time horizon of a conflict and on the contribution the mediation effort plays in improving the relationship between the belligerents. The book argues that the international community, particularly the Commonwealth and the United Nations, played a profound and beneficial role in the political transition to end apartheid. International Mediation in the South African Transition will be of interest to students and scholars of African politics, conflict resolution, international relations and global governance.

Bargaining for Peace
Bargaining for Peace

Author: Peter Gastrow

Publisher: US Institute of Peace Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9781878379399

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Gastrow describes the initiatives and events that led to the signing of the accord, exploring in particular the important roles played by religious groups and the business community.

South Africa ́s negotiated transition to democracy
South Africa ́s negotiated transition to democracy

Author: Tim Eichler

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2015-01-13

Total Pages: 16

ISBN-13: 3656874549

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Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, grade: 1,3, Stellenbosch Universitiy (Political Science), language: English, abstract: In the twentieth century South Africa was characterized by a doctrine of racial and ethnic segregation. Starting with the electoral victory of the National Party in 1948 under slogan of apartheid the white supremacy enhanced vastly. To pass laws, which suppressed and neglected the coloured people, the politico-philosophical ideology of the South African Apartheid system was enforced with brutality (Deegan, 2001:23-25). This political attitude led to pure spite and violent attacks among racial groupings. The apartheid, and especially the violence between races, was at its height during 1960, when 67 demonstrators were killed by the police at the Sharpeville Massacre, and 1976, when the Revolt in Soweto took place (Butler, 2009:10-11). During 1984 and 1988, more than 4000 black South Africans died due to political reasons. In 1990, President FW de Klerk announced a turning point in the struggle for democracy. Releasing Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners and lifting the ban on the anti-apartheid organizations opened the door to negotiations. In April 1994, the first democratic elections were held in South Africa and it ended in ushered in a new era of reconciliation and restitution (Boaduo, 2012:954). South Africa’s way from apartheid to a non-racial democracy has attracted a lot of attention of the international audiences. The carefully arranged ‘transition to democracy’ with its negotiation and reconciliation can be regarded as one of the miracles in the twentieth century. It may be served as an inspiring model how to peacefully approach with a seemingly unsolvable political conflict. The question that is thus posed is: what factors played an important role in making sure that the transitions from apartheid to a non-racial democracy ended up peacefully in negotiations and not in a civil war?

From Apartheid to Democracy
From Apartheid to Democracy

Author: Katherine Elizabeth Mack

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2015-06-18

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0271066385

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South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings can be considered one of the most significant rhetorical events of the late twentieth century. The TRC called language into action, tasking it with promoting understanding among a divided people and facilitating the construction of South Africa’s new democracy. Other books on the TRC and deliberative rhetoric in contemporary South Africa emphasize the achievement of reconciliation during and in the immediate aftermath of the transition from apartheid. From Apartheid to Democracy, in contrast, considers the varied, complex, and enduring effects of the Commission’s rhetorical wager. It is the first book-length study to analyze the TRC through such a lens. Katherine Elizabeth Mack focuses on the dissension and negotiations over difference provoked by the Commission’s process, especially its public airing of victims’ and perpetrators’ truths. She tracks agonistic deliberation (evidenced in the TRC’s public hearings) into works of fiction and photography that extend and challenge the Commission’s assumptions about truth, healing, and reconciliation. Ultimately, Mack demonstrates that while the TRC may not have achieved all of its political goals, its very existence generated valuable deliberation within and beyond its official process.