Democratization in South Africa :The Elusive Social Contract ( Princeton Legacy Library )

Publication subTitle :The Elusive Social Contract

Publication series :Princeton Legacy Library

Author: Sisk Timothy  

Publisher: Princeton University Press‎

Publication year: 2017

E-ISBN: 9781400887392

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780691036229

Subject: K4 African History

Keyword: 非洲史

Language: ENG

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Description

Timothy Sisk presents a new way of conceiving the transition to democracy in South Africa. Unlike authors such as Horowitz and Lijphart, who have sought to prescribe an ideal set of post-apartheid political institutions, Sisk asks what kinds of institutions show signs of actually emerging, given recent history and present realities. He treats the problem of constructing a democratic post-apartheid society in South Africa as part of a larger condition common to societies deeply divided by ethnic, religious, racial, or national discord. Though its profound cleavages of race and class make it a "least likely" candidate for conflict resolution through democratization, Sisk argues that the centripetal pull on moderate politicians of all parties was greater than the seemingly natural polarizing trend in a divided society. This centripetal pull led to the adoption of an interim constitution in 1993 after protracted negotiations. An American Fulbright scholar sent to South Africa after the end of the 21-year rupture of official scholarly exchanges between the two countries, Sisk analyzes the changes in the strategic calculations of the white minority government, the black liberation movement, and other parties over the course of negotiations since 1990. He concludes that intermittent upsurges of violence often reinforced, rather than reduced, the incentives of leaders on both sides to negotiate a settlement that would avoid mutually damaging outcomes. Drawing on extensive interviews

Chapter

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Map of South Africa, Including Black Homelands

Introduction

1. Democratization in Divided Societies

2. From Apartheid to Negotiation

3. The Uncertain Interregnum

4. Parties, Interests, and Institutional Choices: 1991

5. The Politics of Institutional Choice: 1991

6. The Democratization Pact

7. A Social Contract?

8. South Africa and the Politics of Divided Societies

Epilogue

Appendix South Africa in Transition, 1989-1993: A Negotiation Chronology

List of Interviews

Bibliography

Index

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