Democratic Transition and Consolidation in South Africa: The Advice of ‘the Experts’

Abstract

The quality of the South African democratic order and its potential trajectory cannot be adequately measured by abstract and supposedly universal prescriptions. It is questionable whether democratic ‘consolidation’ requires the potential replacement of a government in power in the foreseeable future, whether there is an inevitable and necessary transition of liberation movements into political parties, and whether South Africa is a ‘dominant party state’. This article problematizes ‘the national liberation model’ depicting the organization as representing the entire nation. While unifying people against colonialism and apartheid, it tends to suppress difference and is intolerant of pluralism. Social movements and opposition parties are not likely to supplant the ANC but social and political organization outside and inside the ruling organization is legitimate and essential to strengthen and deepen democracy. One should avoid fixation on a potential change of government and encourage broader factors in order to secure and extend democratic gains. In particular, wider forms of popular participation are crucial. The specific South African constitutional order and traditions of popular mass activity have the potential to sustain and expand democracy.

‘Africanisation’, African identities and emancipation in contemporary South Africa

“…This is not only a question of diversity of identity, but also a manifestation of pluralism that the ANC and other NLMs have not always welcomed. The ANC has not appreciated that identity is not purely a subjective state, but often relates to plurality of objective interests, which may be quite autonomous (see Suttner 2004aSuttner , 2006.…”

“…In other words, it is proposed that in instances where the ruling party is so strong that it is unlikely to suffer electoral defeat in the foreseeable future this presents a danger to or may preclude defining a state as a consolidated democracy. Such reasoning has been applied to South Africa, and the literature that does so has not considered why existing opposition parties are unlikely to defeat the ANC, even at its present moment of crisis (Suttner 2004a(Suttner , 2006. This dogma, for it is not an explanatory device, but merely a statement or declaration of what criteria need to be met by political forces to qualify as consolidated, is usually accompanied by a literature criticising what is referred to as the 'dominant party state' (Southall 2005, but see Suttner 2006.…”

Untitled

“…Many of the works on the ANC are of an historical nature and capture it in exile and underground times. They are written by insiders, insider-scholars, and outsider-scholars (see Suttner 2003Suttner , 2004Suttner , 2008Maharaj 2008;Shubin 1999;dubow 2000;Ellis & Sechaba 1992). More contemporary work has often come from political scientists, especially Lodge (2004aLodge ( , 2004bLodge ( , 2005, with Butler (2007Butler ( , 2009 Bond (2004aBond ( , 2004bBond ( , 2006) is prolific on the ANC, mostly offering insights into the socio-economy and contexts of party politics and voting in relation to it.…”

“…The achievements were even more significant given that the ANC had overwhelmingly competed fairly and the electorate was in a position to exercise an 'uncoerced' electoral choice -despite also dishing out 'robust campaigning'. ANC dominance in such conditions meant that elections remained meaningful, despite guaranteed national-level victories for the party (also see Suttner 2004).…”

Party Dominance ‘Theory’: Of What Value?

“…2 The dominant party debate relates to the 'consolidation of democracy' question, sometimes mockingly referred to as 'consolidology' (Beetham, 2000) and that debate in 'the dominant' US political science discipline turns on the necessity of a potential 'circulation of elites', that is, there must be reasonable possibility of the defeat of the ruling party, before democracy can be said to be consolidated. Where such potential defeat is unlikely in the foreseeable future, democracy cannot be said to be consolidated (Suttner, 2004a). There is a link between this dominance and 'consolidology' approach to political transformation required by conceptions of 'good governance' found in relation to structural adjustment programmes in Africa.…”