Realising Democracy and Legitimacy in Southern Africa PDF Download

Author: Kenneth Good
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
"This new volume focuses on changing social structure and forces, such as new working classes, civil societies, and ruling and competing elites in the three liberal democracies of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. It concentrates in particular on those institutions which favour or oppose the achievement of accountable, open, and ethical government. The book seeks to interpret the important distinctions that exist between Botswana and its neighbours. The author argues that even though the south is the most democratic region in Africa, this does not obscure the severe limitations of the liberal model, and the need to establish other and broader definitions of democracy." --Book Jacket.

Author: Sandra Düsing
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 9783825850654
Category : History
Languages : de
Pages : 412

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Book Description
What are the impacts of ethnically based, traditional political institutions on democratic state and nation building in Southern Africa and how do heterogeneous sources of legitimacy affect the prospects of long-term democratic regime consolidation? What are the impacts of "traditionalism" employed for purposes of party-political mobilization? An indicator for the political influence of traditional leadership in Southern Africa is the fact that a considerable number of democratically elected politicians in high office originate from aristocratic families, representing hereditary traditional leadership structures for centuries. This is evident for the charismatic founding president of the new South Africa; Nelson Mandela, as well as for his adversary, the prime minister-in-office, Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The careful reconsideration of this "state behind the state" has been identified as crucial, in this study, to make any realistic assessments of the prospects for sustainable democratization in Southern African countries in the near future.

Author: Bruce Fuller
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135580030
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
Transitional societies—struggling to build democratic institutions and new political traditions—are faced with a painful dilemma. How can Government become strong and effective, building a common good that unites disparate ethnic and class groups, while simultaneously nurturing democratic social rules at the grassroots? Professor Fuller brings this issue to light in the contentious, multicultural setting of Southern Africa. Post-apartheid states, like South Africa and Namibia, are pushing hard to raise school quality, reduce family poverty, and equalize gender relations inside villages and townships. But will democratic participation blossom at the grassroots as long as strong central states—so necessary for defining the common good—push universal policies onto diverse local communities? This book builds from a decade of family surveys and qualitative village studies led by Professor Fuller at Harvard University and African colleagues inside Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

Author: J. Michael Williams
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253221552
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
As South Africa consolidates its democracy, chieftaincy has remained a controversial and influential institution that has adapted to recent changes. J. Michael Williams examines the chieftaincy and how it has sought to assert its power since the end of apartheid. By taking local-level politics seriously and looking closely at how chiefs negotiate the new political order, Williams takes a position between those who see the chieftaincy as an indigenous democratic form deserving recognition and protection, and those who view it as incompatible with democracy. Williams describes a network of formal and informal accommodations that have influenced the ways state and local authorities interact. By focusing on local perceptions of the chieftaincy and its interactions with the state, Williams reveals an ongoing struggle for democratization at the local and national levels in South Africa.

Author: Roger Southall
Publisher: HSRC Press
ISBN: 9780796920171
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
The two papers included in this analysis examine the political and socioeconomic factors that contribute to and constrain upon democratization throughout southern Africa and the African continent. With an emphasis on the policies of government, business, and civil society geared toward reducing inequality and poverty, these studies promote community empowerment as a way to promote local, regional, and national sustainable development on the African continent.

Author: Carolyn Bassett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317430204
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Book Description
National liberation, one of the grand narratives of the twentieth century, has left a weighty legacy of unfulfilled dreams. This book explores the ongoing struggle for legitimate, accountable political leaders in postcolonial Southern Africa, focussing on dilemmas arising when ex-liberation movements form the governments. While the spread of multi-party democracy to most countries in the region is to be celebrated, democratic practice often has been superficial - a limited, elitist politics that relies on the symbols of the liberation struggle to legitimate de facto one-party rule and authoritarian practices. Using country cases from Tanzania, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia, the collection explores three subthemes relevant to postcolonial governance in Southern Africa: how the struggle for liberation shapes the character of political transformation, the nature of rule in one-party dominant states headed by former liberation movements, and the processes of governance and resistance in post-liberation contexts. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.

Author: Arrigo Pallotti
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317050312
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Each country in southern Africa has a unique history but in all of them socio-economic inequalities and high poverty levels weaken the governments’ legitimacy and represent a challenge to models of economic development. One key issue appears to be the solution of the land question. This vital concern affects both citizenship and democracy in the political systems of the region, yet no government has shown the capacity or commitment to solve it. In this volume leading European, American and African scholars explore in detail the relationship between state, land and democracy. They examine the historical background of asset allocation and its impact on questions of nationality, the definition of citizenship, human rights and the current political and economic processes in southern Africa.

Author: Roger Southall
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780714651491
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Sixteen essays consider the role, functions, legitimacy, and capacity of political opposition in South Africa, where there is increasing debate not just about whether democracy will survive, but about the quality of that democracy. Divided along lines of history, ideology, aspiration, race, and ethnicity as well as by more immediate competition for electoral support, South Africa's 12 fragmented opposition parties are seen as struggling against major questions of tactics and strategy. The contributors are researchers and academics in sociology, history, and political science from across South Africa. Distributed by ISBS. c. Book News Inc.

Author: Donald L. Horowitz
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520328876
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1991.

Author: South African Democracy Education Trust
Publisher: Unisa Press
ISBN: 9781868884063
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1006

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Book Description
v. 3: The third volume in the series examines the role of anti-apartheid movements around the world. The global anti-apartheid movement was very successful in creating awareness of the liberation struggle in South Africa, and in contributing to the downfall of the apartheid government. This volume, in 2 parts, brings together analyses which in the main are written by activist scholars with deep roots in the movements and organizations they are writing about.