Democracy and South Africa

Soldiers in a Storm: The Armed Forces in South Africa's Democratic Transition is a study of the role of the military in the creation and development of South Africa's new post-apartheid system. Philip Frankel asserts that the armed forces played a far greater role in the end of apartheid than is currently acknowledged in the literature, and that the relatively peaceful negotiations that ended apartheid would not have been possible without the participation of the South African Defense Force and two major liberation armies.

Frankel also examines the topics of military disengagement, civilianization, post-authoritarian political behavior on the part of militaries, and the process of democratic consolidation. He also discusses how many of these themes have been explored in the context of Latin America, and he points out that this is the only book that places these themes within the context of South Africa. This is an important case study with universal implications.

The orderly transfer of power from the white minority to the black majority in South Africa was something of a political miracle. This book looks at the tasks facing the new government of Thabo Mbeki.

The complex history and politics of South Africa form the backdrop of this insightful study of the factors that contributed to both the end of apartheid and the movement from government by racial division toward government through national unity. This study and resource examines the history, people, and politics of South Africa in the age of apartheid. Topical essays examine the divisions within South African society that led to the historic apartheid legislation initiated in 1948; each group that was defined and separated by apartheid--whites, coloreds, Indians, and Africans; how this separation put increasing pressure on the system that gave rise to organized domestic resistance that eventually led to the collapse of apartheid; the economic sanctions imposed by other nations on South Africa in retaliation for apartheid; and the new government and the challenges of a new democracy.

Following the format of the first volume South Africa: In Transition to What? (1988), each of the chapters in this new volume focuses on a segment of the jigsaw puzzle from which South Africa's future will be assembled and assembled and is datelined to emphasize how the situation, event, or issue being addressed appeared through a particular set of lenses at a particular time. This collection seeks to impress upon readers (especially Americans) that the shape of the post-apartheid South Africa nw emerging is being determined primarily by internal factors. "Eminent Persons" interlocutors, distinguished advisory committees, economic and diplomatic sanctions, and other externally devised initiatives affected, but could not mandate how South Africa's long-fractured society would find its way. The contributors to this volume come from a range of geographical and professional bases, but share one important qualification: residence or repeated physical presence in South Africa.

The book examines the reform of the communications sector in South Africa as a detailed and extended case study in the transition from apartheid to democracy. The reform of broadcasting, telecommunications, the state information agency, and the print press from apartheid-aligned apparatuses to accountable democratic institutions took place via a complex political process in which civil society activism, embodying a post-social democratic ideal, largely won out over the powerful forces of formal market capitalism and older models of state control.

An African Athens offers an analysis of a new ecology of rhetoric--the reshaping of a nation into a democracy through rhetorical means. Author Philippe-Joseph Salazar provides a general view of issues as they have taken shape in the apartheid and post-apartheid South African experience, presenting the country as a remarkable stage for playing out the great themes of public deliberation and the rise of postmodern rhetorical democracy. Salazar's intimate vantage point focuses on the striking case of a democracy won at the negotiating table and also won every day in public deliberation. This volume presents a full-scale rhetorical analysis of a democratic transformation in post-Cold War era, and provides a study of the demise of apartheid and post-apartheid from the standpoint of political and public rhetoric and communication. In doing so, it serves as a template for similar enquiries in the rhetorical study of emerging democracies. Intended for readers engaged in the study of political and public rhetoric with an interest in how democracy takes shape, An African Athens highlights South Africa as a test case for global democracy, for rhetoric, and for the relevance of rhetoric studies in a postmodern democracy.

The transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa has raised questions, on the one hand, about the tension between the imperatives of justice and equality and, on the other, reconciliation. Transforming the decades' old apartheid system under conditions of a political compromise has turned out to be a formidable challenge. This paper is about the complexity of the transformation process going on in South Africa. Although too early for a real assessment of the experi-ment, the tensions, dilemmas, contradictions, paradoxes and some of the changes have already begun to mani-fest themselves.The paper shows how political deals affect the administration of justice, and how they impinge upon the nature of democracy, often by frustrating efforts to realise social goals in the post-authoritarian phase. It also raises the fundamental question of the broader necessities for the long-term survival of democracy in South Africa.

The impact of the concept(s) of armed struggle for the notion(s) of democracy in South(ern) Africa is the focus of this paper. Originally submitted to a conference on (Re-) Conceptualising Democracy and Liberation in Southern Africa, held in Windhoek, Namibia during July 2002, it argues from the point of departure of the personal involvement of the author in the issues raised.The author was part of a group which criticised the strategy of armed struggle in the ANC. With this paper he inspires a debate, which can claim relevance for current issues of democracy in South Africa and the Southern African region more generally. Given the degree of personal involvement of its author, this analysis is contemporary history based on personal insights, and provides arguments for a necessary discussion.