Download or read book South Africa s negotiated transition to democracy written by Tim Eichler and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2015-01-13 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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?
Download or read book The Politics of Transition written by Richard Spitz and published by Witwatersrand University Press Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Quest for Democracy written by Mary Crewe and published by Penguin Group. This book was released on 1992 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Negotiating for Civilian Control Strategy and Tactics of Umkhonto We Sizwe MK in the Democratic Transition of South Africa written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Africa offers an important model of how nations can make the transition to democracy. The experience of South Africa reflects its own unique history and political circumstances, which differ from those of other nations. Nevertheless, the history of the establishment of democratic civilian control in South Africa offers potentially valuable lessons for other nations to adapt and apply to their own challenges. This thesis examines and analyzes how civilian control over the South African National Defense Force was established, especially over the functions of defense-budgeting and policy. It seeks to describe how the leadership of the Umkhonto we Sizwe: meaning the Spear of the Nation" (MK - the military wing of the African National Congress), pursued those negotiations with their counter parts in the South African Defense Force. I would argue that the military might of the apartheid regime, SADF, was still very powerful and the regime could have still exploited that power to overwhelm MK in the negotiations on the future of South Africa. The SADF also posed a major risk, as it possessed the potential to stage a coup in post-apartheid South Africa. To remedy this ostensible imbalance, ANC concluded that for the negotiations to be fruitful and successful, the political playing field had to be leveled. To do this, all parties participating in the negotiation needed to have equal status, especially the government and the ANC as the two major role-players. This, the ANC argued, would ensure that the apartheid government was not a referee and a player at the same time.
Download or read book South Africa and the Case for Renegotiating the Peace written by Pierre du Toit and published by AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Africa is awash with policy failures, and policy confusion. We argue firstly, that our current discord over policy details has its origin in the (celebrated) negotiated transition. We hold that the vote count of an 85% majority in the Constituent Assembly in 1996 obscured the reality that the Constitution meant different things to different negotiators. The result was that South Africa, from the very start of the democratic era, lacked a national consensus on how to go about consolidating democracy. We keep on failing to build a proper roof over our democracy because the constitutional foundations are weak.
Download or read book The Negotiated Revolution written by Peter Bouckaert and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book South Africa s Transition to Democracy written by Sandy Shaw and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author points out that this book is not an academic study of South Africa and Africa, but a focus on the psycho-political dimension of the new South Africa, asking whether it will work and highlighting positives and strengths that can be made to work.
Download or read book The ANC and South Africa s Negotiated Transition to Democracy and Peace written by Mac Maharaj and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Political Parties in South Africa written by Thuynsma, Heather and published by Africa Institute of South Africa. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Botswana Lesotho and Swaziland written by Nancy R. Pielemeier and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tomorrow Is Another Country written by Alliste Sparks and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tomorrow is Another Country celebrates the miraculous social, moral and political transformation in South Africa signaled by the death of apartheid. For the first time, the true events which shaped history are revealed in this fascinating account. A drama hidden behind official world coverage, which stretches back to the four years before Nelson Mandela was released from jail in February 1990. Allister Sparks, South Africa's award-winning journalist, tells an extraordinary story of secret meetings between leading government parties, their political prisoners and the outlawed opposition - a dangerous, bloody political conflict which led to the historic election of 1994.
Download or read book Democratic Transitions written by Sergio Bitar and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 Kwasniewski, 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.
Download or read book Democratization in South Africa written by Timothy Sisk and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Timothy Sisk presents a new way of conceiving the transition to democracy in South Africa. Unlike authors such as Horowitz and Lijphart, who have sought to prescribe an ideal set of post-apartheid political institutions, Sisk asks what kinds of institutions show signs of actually emerging, given recent history and present realities. He treats the problem of constructing a democratic post-apartheid society in South Africa as part of a larger condition common to societies deeply divided by ethnic, religious, racial, or national discord. Though its profound cleavages of race and class make it a "least likely" candidate for conflict resolution through democratization, Sisk argues that the centripetal pull on moderate politicians of all parties was greater than the seemingly natural polarizing trend in a divided society. This centripetal pull led to the adoption of an interim constitution in 1993 after protracted negotiations. An American Fulbright scholar sent to South Africa after the end of the 21-year rupture of official scholarly exchanges between the two countries, Sisk analyzes the changes in the strategic calculations of the white minority government, the black liberation movement, and other parties over the course of negotiations since 1990. He concludes that intermittent upsurges of violence often reinforced, rather than reduced, the incentives of leaders on both sides to negotiate a settlement that would avoid mutually damaging outcomes. Drawing on extensive interviews with political figures, as well as other primary and secondary sources, Sisk finds reason for hope that a democratic social contract can evolve, balancing majority rule with minority representation and guaranteeing equal economic opportunity and social justice. Originally published in 1994. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book The Politics of Transition written by Richard Spitz and published by Hart Publishing. This book was released on 2000-07-24 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historian Spitz and Chaskalson (constitutional law and litigation, U. of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) consulted primary sources and conducted in-depth interviews with some of the central figures to reveal the politics behind the Kempton Park negotiations and the Interim Constitution by which South Africa transitioned to democracy in the early 1990s. They believe the negotiating process and Interim Constitution will have a long-term influence over the form of democracy there. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book After Apartheid written by Ian Shapiro and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2011-06-21 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy came to South Africa in April 1994, when the African National Congress won a landslide victory in the first free national election in the country’s history. That definitive and peaceful transition from apartheid is often cited as a model for others to follow. The new order has since survived several transitions of ANC leadership, and it averted a potentially destabilizing constitutional crisis in 2008. Yet enormous challenges remain. Poverty and inequality are among the highest in the world. Staggering unemployment has fueled xenophobia, resulting in deadly aggression directed at refugees and migrant workers from Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Violent crime rates, particularly murder and rape, remain grotesquely high. The HIV/AIDS pandemic was shockingly mishandled at the highest levels of government, and infection rates continue to be overwhelming. Despite the country’s uplifting success of hosting Africa’s first World Cup in 2010, inefficiency and corruption remain rife, infrastructure and basic services are often semifunctional, and political opposition and a free media are under pressure. In this volume, major scholars chronicle South Africa’s achievements and challenges since the transition. The contributions, all previously unpublished, represent the state of the art in the study of South African politics, economics, law, and social policy.
Download or read book Partner to History written by Princeton Nathan Lyman and published by US Institute of Peace Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable book about a remarkable time, Partner to History reveals the role played by U.S. diplomacy in South Africa's surprisingly successful transition from apartheid to democracy. Princeton Lyman, the U.S. ambassador during the transition, makes clear that America didn't "own" the transition process-the South Africans did. But U.S. involvement was active and intense. And it made a difference. Lyman tells an enthralling story of how Washington policymakers and the American embassy used U.S. influence, economic assistance, and political support to help end apartheid without sparking civil war. The book offers candid assessments both of U.S. policy deliberations and of the leading players in the unfolding, unpredictable drama. It takes us behind the diplomatic scenes as well as onto the public stage, as American diplomats strove to facilitate dialogue, encourage reconciliation, and dissuade potential spoilers.
Download or read book The challenges of democratic transition in South Africa written by Simon Bekker and published by Centro de Estudos Internacionais do Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL). This book was released on 1995-01-02 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Summer School on “Problems of Transition to Democracy in Africa”, organized by the Centro de Estudos Africanos for AEGIS, the European network of African studies at the Convento da Arrábida near Lisbon, September, 10th to 23rd, 1995. The Summer School was sponsored by the European Community (D.G.VIII), the Gulbenkian and Luso-American Foundation, The Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica (Portuguese agency for science and technology) and the Instituto da Cooperação Portuguesa (Portuguese agency for development cooperation).
