Democratic Nation-building in South Africa PDF Download

Author: N. J. Rhoodie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
This book is a collection of essays by 50 eminent experts/analysts representing a broad range of ideological perspectives and interest groups. Its aim is to contribute to the process of democratic nation-building and the creation of a culture of tolerance by educating South Africans about the intricacies of community reconciliation and nation-building. Following a section featuring information about each of the contributing authors, the book is divided into 11 sections, which are further divided into 47 chapters. The main sections are: (1) "Nation-Building as a Democratic Means of Reconciling National Unity with Ethnic and Cultural Diversity"; (2) "The Role of Ethnic Nationalism in Nation-Building"; (3) "The Constitutional and Institutional Bases of Democratic Government in South Africa"; (4) "The Sociopolitical Conditions for Democratic Nation-Building and Intercommunity Reconciliation"; (5) "Key Socioeconomic Determinants of Democratic Nation-Building in South Africa"; (6) "The Transition from Apartheid to Democracy"; (7) "Gender Equality as a Precondition for Democratic Nation-Building"; (8) "Violence--A Pervasive Inhibitor of Nation-Building"; (9) "The Role of the Security Institutions"; (10) "International Involvement in Nation-Building"; and (11) "Concluding Overview: the Prospects for Democratic Nation-Building in South Africa." (LAP)

Author: Carolyn Holmes
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472054635
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Nation-building imperatives compel citizens to focus on what makes them similar and what binds them together, forgetting what makes them different. Democratic institution building, on the other hand, requires fostering opposition through conducting multiparty elections and encouraging debate. Leaders of democratic factions, like parties or interest groups, can consolidate their power by emphasizing difference. But when held in tension, these two impulses—toward remembering difference and forgetting it, between focusing on unity and encouraging division—are mutually constitutive of sustainable democracy. ?Based on ethnographic and interview-based fieldwork conducted in 2012–13, The Black and White Rainbow: Reconciliation, Opposition, and Nation-Building in Democratic South Africa explores various themes of nation- and democracy-building, including the emotional and banal content of symbols of the post-apartheid state, the ways that gender and race condition nascent nationalism, the public performance of nationalism and other group-based identities, integration and sharing of space, language diversity, and the role of democratic functioning including party politics and modes of opposition. Each of these thematic chapters aims to explicate a feature of the multifaceted nature of identity-building, and link the South African case to broader literatures on both nationalism and democracy.

Author: Pierre Du Toit
Publisher: HSRC Press
ISBN: 9780796916907
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
What can South Africa learn from Botswana, arguably Africa's most successful democracy, and Zimbabwe, one of South Africa's closest neighbours? In this comparative study, the author explores these southern African countries with the aim of highlighting those factors that appear to ensure a successful transition to democracy.

Author: Simon Bekker
Publisher: Centro de Estudos Internacionais do Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)
ISBN: 9728335016
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description
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).

Author: Mai Palmberg
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171064417
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Province of South Africa

Author: Catherine Jenkins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781780681849
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this book, 15 contributors from the disciplines of law, politics, and sociology reflect on South Africa's transition to democracy and the challenges of transformation and nation-building that have confronted the country since the first democratic elections of 1994. The range of topics is expansive, in keeping with a broader-than-usual definition of transitional justice which, it is argued, is more appropriate for States faced with the mammoth tasks of reform and institution-building in a context in which democracy has never been firmly rooted and the existence of widespread poverty gives rise to the dual demands for both bread and freedom. In the case of South Africa, the post-apartheid era has been characterized by wide-ranging attempts at transformation and nation-building, from the well-known Truth and Reconciliation Commission to reforms in education and policing, the promotion of women's rights, the reform of land law, the provision of basic services to hundreds of thousands of poor households, a new framework for freedom of expression, and the transformation of the judiciary. In the light of South Africa's commitment to a new constitutional dispensation and to legal regulation, this volume focuses in particular, but not exclusively, on the role that law and lawyers have played in social and political change in South Africa in the post-apartheid era. It sets the South African experience in historical and comparative perspective and considers whether any lessons may be learned for the field of transitional justice. (Series: Transitional Justice - Vol. 15)

Author: Carolyn Holmes
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472127179
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Nation-building imperatives compel citizens to focus on what makes them similar and what binds them together, forgetting what makes them different. Democratic institution building, on the other hand, requires fostering opposition through conducting multiparty elections and encouraging debate. Leaders of democratic factions, like parties or interest groups, can consolidate their power by emphasizing difference. But when held in tension, these two impulses—toward remembering difference and forgetting it, between focusing on unity and encouraging division—are mutually constitutive of sustainable democracy. ​Based on ethnographic and interview-based fieldwork conducted in 2012–13, The Black and White Rainbow: Reconciliation, Opposition, and Nation-Building in Democratic South Africa explores various themes of nation- and democracy-building, including the emotional and banal content of symbols of the post-apartheid state, the ways that gender and race condition nascent nationalism, the public performance of nationalism and other group-based identities, integration and sharing of space, language diversity, and the role of democratic functioning including party politics and modes of opposition. Each of these thematic chapters aims to explicate a feature of the multifaceted nature of identity-building, and link the South African case to broader literatures on both nationalism and democracy.

Author: Godfrey Mwakikagile
Publisher: New Africa Press
ISBN: 9987160395
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
This is a study of statecraft and nation building in Africa in the post-colonial era. Subjects covered include early years of independence, state legitimacy, constitutional primacy, institutional transformation, autocracy, quest for democracy, national integration, consolidation of the state, and others. It focuses on case studies whose relevance is continental in scope.

Author: Jon Orman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402088914
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
The preamble to the post-apartheid South African constitution states that ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity’ and promises to ‘lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law’ and to ‘improve the quality of life of all citizens’. This would seem to commit the South African government to, amongst other things, the implementation of policies aimed at fostering a common sense of South African national identity, at societal dev- opment and at reducing of levels of social inequality. However, in the period of more than a decade that has now elapsed since the end of apartheid, there has been widespread discontent with regard to the degree of progress made in connection with the realisation of these constitutional aspirations. The ‘limits to liberation’ in the post-apartheid era has been a theme of much recent research in the ?elds of sociology and political theory (e. g. Luckham, 1998; Robins, 2005a). Linguists have also paid considerable attention to the South African situation with the realisation that many of the factors that have prevented, and are continuing to prevent, effective progress towards the achievement of these constitutional goals are linguistic in their origin.

Author: Kidane Mengisteab
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
State building and democratization in Africa rarely attract the attention they deserve. Few have grappled with the relationship between state building (nation-building) and democratic experiments in Africa. This collection consciously corrects this shortcoming in African political studies. Among the issues raised: Does democracy facilitate state building or does it exacerbate ethnic conflicts? Are certain modalities of democratization more likely to facilitate state-building than others? Has the era of democracy created the need for new state building strategies? Does the objective of state building require significant modifications in the essence and form of democracy? This collection combines theoretical explorations with empirical case studies. It looks at both anglophone and francophone countries of sub-Saharan Africa. While the contributors have written extensively on African issues, there is no consensus among the authors; most argue that integrating ethnic groups that already face discrimination and often are engaged in conflict requires compromise, political settlements, and new terms of incorporation into the state. These compromises, in turn, involve new arrangements in how democracy is perceived and instituted. An important collection for scholars, students, and other researchers involved with African political, social, and economic development.