South Africa's democracy
From Celebration to Crisis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6030604 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Greg Cuthbertson (University of South Africa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 293-304 |
| Publication date | 2008-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Identities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1472-5843 • E-ISSN: 1472-5851 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14725840802223606 |
| OpenAlex | W1966381059 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 9 |
This essay is based on a reading of a selection of texts that have been published \naround the tenth anniversary of South Africa’s much celebrated democratic \nelection of 1994, though not necessarily for that purpose. It focuses mainly on \npolitical commentaries which have appeared since 2002 in various anthologies, \njournal articles, magazines and newspapers at a time when the excitement and \neuphoria had died down and the African National Congress (ANC) government \nfaced an assessment of its first two terms in power, and growing problems during \nits third. South Africans across the board have begun to take stock of the progress \n(or lack of it) made in the country since the transition to majority rule. Between \n2005 and 2008 journalists, sociologists, economists, political scientists and others, \nincluding rank-and-file members of the governing Alliance partners (ANC, South \nAfrican Communist Party [SACP] and the Congress of South African Trade \nUnions [COSATU]), have taken a strident tone. The essay also visits central \nfeatures of current politics in South Africa, discussing media and other reaction to \nJacob Zuma’s powerful political claim to the presidency, his cultivation of the \nimage of popular champion of the oppressed and his capitalization on growing \nresentment against Thabo Mbeki’s authoritarian ‘top-down’ style of governance. \nIt examines the increasingly negative interpretations of the ANC government’s \nperformance in key areas, especially health, land policy, restitution for apartheid \nhuman rights’ abuses recorded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission \n(TRC), and the economy. The review does not pretend to be comprehensive, but \nreflects some of the more robust critique that now challenges earlier valorizations \nof the achievements of 1994, which pitched apartheid against democracy and \npraised the Mandela era
Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · South African History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,27 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2017 (7) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |