Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2023.2171835
Demet Yalcin Mousseau, M. Mousseau
ABSTRACT Ethnic favouritism in the distribution of public goods has been a common problem in multi-ethnic countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Is inequitable allocation of public goods associated with ethnic conflict and war? This study connects the literatures on ethnic competition, rent-seeking and public goods and examines whether impartial allocation of public goods by governments affect the onset of local ethnic wars in 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected that particularistic policy-making in the allocation of public goods can increase the risk of local ethnic wars in sub-Saharan Africa because it can contribute to horizontal group grievances and rent-seeking over state resources. Analyses of 40 sub-Saharan African countries from 1946 to 2010 show that a one standard deviation change public versus particularistic goods provision appears to reduce the risk of local ethnic wars by a substantial 27–59% with consideration of a battery of control variables. To facilitate peace in the sub-Saharan countries, policy makers and states should promote impartial policies targeted at the allocation of public goods for all communities and groups.
{"title":"Allocation of public goods, ethnic favouritism and the risk of local ethnic wars in sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"Demet Yalcin Mousseau, M. Mousseau","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2023.2171835","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2023.2171835","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Ethnic favouritism in the distribution of public goods has been a common problem in multi-ethnic countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Is inequitable allocation of public goods associated with ethnic conflict and war? This study connects the literatures on ethnic competition, rent-seeking and public goods and examines whether impartial allocation of public goods by governments affect the onset of local ethnic wars in 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected that particularistic policy-making in the allocation of public goods can increase the risk of local ethnic wars in sub-Saharan Africa because it can contribute to horizontal group grievances and rent-seeking over state resources. Analyses of 40 sub-Saharan African countries from 1946 to 2010 show that a one standard deviation change public versus particularistic goods provision appears to reduce the risk of local ethnic wars by a substantial 27–59% with consideration of a battery of control variables. To facilitate peace in the sub-Saharan countries, policy makers and states should promote impartial policies targeted at the allocation of public goods for all communities and groups.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"50 1","pages":"41 - 60"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42537282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2023.2170012
Matt Wingfield
{"title":"Fighting global neo-extractivism: fossil-free social movements in South Africa","authors":"Matt Wingfield","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2023.2170012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2023.2170012","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"50 1","pages":"97 - 99"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42306449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2023.2171833
George C. Nche
ABSTRACT There is a burgeoning literature on the religion-social movement connection. However, these literatures have on the one hand been geographically biased as most of the focus has been on the global north, and on the other hand, conceptually and theoretically inconclusive as much of the scholarly attention has been on the mobilization role of religion in social movements. As a contribution towards filling this gap, the present study examined the religious framing of the neo-Biafra separatist agitations in Nigeria. Using content and thematic analytical methods, the study analysed eight speeches delivered by the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu. With the findings showing an overwhelming frequency of religious concepts and the leader’s attempt to blend the socio-political and the religious aspirations of the Igbo people, the study demonstrates that religion is increasingly being appropriated to sustain the current Biafra separatist movement in Nigeria. Implications of the findings for research and policy are discussed.
{"title":"‘Biafra is made in heaven’: exploring the religious framing of the neo-Biafra secessionist movement in Nigeria","authors":"George C. Nche","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2023.2171833","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2023.2171833","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT There is a burgeoning literature on the religion-social movement connection. However, these literatures have on the one hand been geographically biased as most of the focus has been on the global north, and on the other hand, conceptually and theoretically inconclusive as much of the scholarly attention has been on the mobilization role of religion in social movements. As a contribution towards filling this gap, the present study examined the religious framing of the neo-Biafra separatist agitations in Nigeria. Using content and thematic analytical methods, the study analysed eight speeches delivered by the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu. With the findings showing an overwhelming frequency of religious concepts and the leader’s attempt to blend the socio-political and the religious aspirations of the Igbo people, the study demonstrates that religion is increasingly being appropriated to sustain the current Biafra separatist movement in Nigeria. Implications of the findings for research and policy are discussed.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"50 1","pages":"18 - 40"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45146928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2023.2172531
M. K. Semela, Tefo Mosienyane, Aisha J. Ali, Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa
ABSTRACT African parliaments are a unique institutional context for evidence use, and processes for digitalisation have specific implications for how evidence systems can contribute to democracy. While African parliaments have organisational features that make introducing technology challenging, they also hold significant promise for using digitalisation as a tool to strengthen democratic governance both within parliaments themselves, and also across the executive. This article shares experiences introducing a research management tool in two African parliaments, and reflects on what it means for the role evaluation plays in strengthening democracy. This is through looking at the technical components of digitalisation, the contextual components, and the political and values driven elements of the parliamentary context. This article describes these components, and reflects on their implications for the way democratic evaluation is understood in a context of African governance.
{"title":"Introducing digitalisation to strengthen evaluation systems for democracy in African parliaments","authors":"M. K. Semela, Tefo Mosienyane, Aisha J. Ali, Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2023.2172531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2023.2172531","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT African parliaments are a unique institutional context for evidence use, and processes for digitalisation have specific implications for how evidence systems can contribute to democracy. While African parliaments have organisational features that make introducing technology challenging, they also hold significant promise for using digitalisation as a tool to strengthen democratic governance both within parliaments themselves, and also across the executive. This article shares experiences introducing a research management tool in two African parliaments, and reflects on what it means for the role evaluation plays in strengthening democracy. This is through looking at the technical components of digitalisation, the contextual components, and the political and values driven elements of the parliamentary context. This article describes these components, and reflects on their implications for the way democratic evaluation is understood in a context of African governance.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"50 1","pages":"61 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48867457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2151682
Ayabulela Dlakavu
ABSTRACT The 2021 local government elections (LGE) in the Republic of South Africa once again delivered hung metropolitan municipalities – a phenomenon that became common following the 2016 LGE results. The City of Cape Town is, however, a metropolitan municipality that has experienced coalition governance since the early 2000s, while the rest of South Africa's metropolitan municipalities were governed by the ruling African National Congress from 1994 to 2016. The 2021 LGE delivered coalition governments across the majority of metropolitan councils, namely: City of Tshwane (the capital), City of Johannesburg (Africa's economic hub), Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, City of Ethekwini, and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. This paper provides a conceptualisation of 'coalition governance and politics', and key characteristics of this phenomenon in South Africa and globally. Conceptual and operational understandings of coalitions is crucial given their increasing prevalence in South Africa. Areas of cooperation, compromise, consensus and divergence among the prospective coalition partners in South Africa are also examined in the article (based on political party electoral performance trends, political ideology, policy preferences and leadership personalities and qualities). Such factors are important because they determine the likely feasibility, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of coalition governments.
{"title":"South African electoral trends: prospects for coalition governance at national and provincial spheres in 2024","authors":"Ayabulela Dlakavu","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2151682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2151682","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The 2021 local government elections (LGE) in the Republic of South Africa once again delivered hung metropolitan municipalities – a phenomenon that became common following the 2016 LGE results. The City of Cape Town is, however, a metropolitan municipality that has experienced coalition governance since the early 2000s, while the rest of South Africa's metropolitan municipalities were governed by the ruling African National Congress from 1994 to 2016. The 2021 LGE delivered coalition governments across the majority of metropolitan councils, namely: City of Tshwane (the capital), City of Johannesburg (Africa's economic hub), Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, City of Ethekwini, and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. This paper provides a conceptualisation of 'coalition governance and politics', and key characteristics of this phenomenon in South Africa and globally. Conceptual and operational understandings of coalitions is crucial given their increasing prevalence in South Africa. Areas of cooperation, compromise, consensus and divergence among the prospective coalition partners in South Africa are also examined in the article (based on political party electoral performance trends, political ideology, policy preferences and leadership personalities and qualities). Such factors are important because they determine the likely feasibility, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of coalition governments.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"60 1","pages":"476 - 490"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59309107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2161451
Norman Sempijja, C. O. Mongale
ABSTRACT South Africa is gripped by protests which have usually taken the form of service delivery protests that have become more manifest during election periods. However, each election cycle has different types of protests with varying degrees of intensity. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyse the link between elections and service delivery protests in South Africa with a focus on the 2016 and 2021 local government elections in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. This qualitative study relies on relative deprivation theory to tease out socio-economic issues driving these protests and rational choice theory to explore the rationale behind the timing of protests. Findings are that, in both provinces, although protests were linked to poor service provision, other factors like intra-party tension were notable. This article recommends a re-visit of cadre deployment policy, because the lack of capacitated and skilled cadres has fuelled service delivery especially in local municipality.
{"title":"Protests as a form of electioneering? A comparative study of the 2016 and 2021 local government elections protests in Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal","authors":"Norman Sempijja, C. O. Mongale","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2161451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2161451","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT South Africa is gripped by protests which have usually taken the form of service delivery protests that have become more manifest during election periods. However, each election cycle has different types of protests with varying degrees of intensity. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyse the link between elections and service delivery protests in South Africa with a focus on the 2016 and 2021 local government elections in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. This qualitative study relies on relative deprivation theory to tease out socio-economic issues driving these protests and rational choice theory to explore the rationale behind the timing of protests. Findings are that, in both provinces, although protests were linked to poor service provision, other factors like intra-party tension were notable. This article recommends a re-visit of cadre deployment policy, because the lack of capacitated and skilled cadres has fuelled service delivery especially in local municipality.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"457 - 475"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44789080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2154925
Bhaso Ndzendze, Zimkhitha Manyana
ABSTRACT The 2021 local government elections in South Africa occurred against the reality of major challenges in the national and global landscapes, with local governmental implications. The world was experiencing major changes in the form of technological and climate change, alongside the country’s inability to reverse its growing youth unemployment. South Africa’s political system is dominated by a handful of political parties that dominate at both national and local levels such that there is continuity in their broader platforms for both. This article carries out a discourse analysis of the political manifestos of the three largest political parties before the election: the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters. The analysis is comparatively interested in the extent to which the texts placed emphasis on technology, climate change, and youth unemployment. Two of the three parties make more moderate commitments in the event that they win, whereas one (the EFF) makes the most wide-ranging and detailed set of promises. We argue that this is possibly linked to governance experience (with an inverse correlation between the amount of time in office and the number of promises made) and demographics (the EFF’s litany of highly specific initiatives reflecting its comparatively younger base).
{"title":"Are South African political parties thinking about the future in local governance? Assessing the 2021 LGE manifestos for responses to technological, climate and demographic changes","authors":"Bhaso Ndzendze, Zimkhitha Manyana","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2154925","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2154925","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The 2021 local government elections in South Africa occurred against the reality of major challenges in the national and global landscapes, with local governmental implications. The world was experiencing major changes in the form of technological and climate change, alongside the country’s inability to reverse its growing youth unemployment. South Africa’s political system is dominated by a handful of political parties that dominate at both national and local levels such that there is continuity in their broader platforms for both. This article carries out a discourse analysis of the political manifestos of the three largest political parties before the election: the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters. The analysis is comparatively interested in the extent to which the texts placed emphasis on technology, climate change, and youth unemployment. Two of the three parties make more moderate commitments in the event that they win, whereas one (the EFF) makes the most wide-ranging and detailed set of promises. We argue that this is possibly linked to governance experience (with an inverse correlation between the amount of time in office and the number of promises made) and demographics (the EFF’s litany of highly specific initiatives reflecting its comparatively younger base).","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"428 - 445"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49612205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2149114
L. Sinwell, Trevor Ngwane, Terri Maggott
ABSTRACT This article draws from a wider research project on ‘Energy Racism’ to explore the experiences and perspectives of ordinary residents in Sun Valley, Soweto (in Ward 22). From August 2020, due to a broken electricity transformer, residents of Sun Valley suffered in the dark. They employed many strategies to access energy and called a range of meetings with ANC councillors and Eskom officials, but their pleas fell on deaf ears until they threatened to boycott the 2021 local government elections. President Cyril Ramaphosa then announced that the problem would be resolved and suddenly, in a clear-cut drive to secure votes, the transformers were fixed within days of the 1 November election. We argue that the decision to electrify Sun Valley is part of the strategy of ‘energy racism’ since it relies upon and assumes that the Black working class will continue to bear the burden of the electricity crisis. Building upon the notion of racial capitalism, the article suggests that mainstream political parties in South Africa promote the systemic exclusion of townships and informal settlements until the precise moment that it becomes necessary for authorities (the Black faces of white monopoly capital) to cash in on their piecemeal inclusion.
{"title":"Electing to electrify: unpacking the local crisis and state response in Sun Valley, Soweto","authors":"L. Sinwell, Trevor Ngwane, Terri Maggott","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2149114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2149114","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article draws from a wider research project on ‘Energy Racism’ to explore the experiences and perspectives of ordinary residents in Sun Valley, Soweto (in Ward 22). From August 2020, due to a broken electricity transformer, residents of Sun Valley suffered in the dark. They employed many strategies to access energy and called a range of meetings with ANC councillors and Eskom officials, but their pleas fell on deaf ears until they threatened to boycott the 2021 local government elections. President Cyril Ramaphosa then announced that the problem would be resolved and suddenly, in a clear-cut drive to secure votes, the transformers were fixed within days of the 1 November election. We argue that the decision to electrify Sun Valley is part of the strategy of ‘energy racism’ since it relies upon and assumes that the Black working class will continue to bear the burden of the electricity crisis. Building upon the notion of racial capitalism, the article suggests that mainstream political parties in South Africa promote the systemic exclusion of townships and informal settlements until the precise moment that it becomes necessary for authorities (the Black faces of white monopoly capital) to cash in on their piecemeal inclusion.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"337 - 349"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44498100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2161450
Masindi Cecilia Mashapha, J. Molepo, M. C. Maleka
ABSTRACT South Africa’s 2021 local government elections witnessed the lowest voter turnout since the advent of democracy. This reflects a longer trajectory of declining voter turnout. The primary objective of this paper was to discuss factors that contributed to the hesitancy of the electorate in participating in local government elections in South Africa particularly the rural perspective. The study employed qualitative approaches, designs and methods. It relied mostly on literature review and utilised document review of reports and plans in order to gather data. The findings highlight that this behaviour reflects how political parties treat the electorate once elected in municipal councils. Furthermore, elections no longer offer hope for the improvement of the lives of voters. The other factors contributing to low turnout at the polls include political, social, economic perceptions of the voters. This article recommends that multisectoral efforts be concerted to address the major challenge at hand.
{"title":"Hesitancy to participate in South African local government elections – rural voter’s perspective","authors":"Masindi Cecilia Mashapha, J. Molepo, M. C. Maleka","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2161450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2161450","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT South Africa’s 2021 local government elections witnessed the lowest voter turnout since the advent of democracy. This reflects a longer trajectory of declining voter turnout. The primary objective of this paper was to discuss factors that contributed to the hesitancy of the electorate in participating in local government elections in South Africa particularly the rural perspective. The study employed qualitative approaches, designs and methods. It relied mostly on literature review and utilised document review of reports and plans in order to gather data. The findings highlight that this behaviour reflects how political parties treat the electorate once elected in municipal councils. Furthermore, elections no longer offer hope for the improvement of the lives of voters. The other factors contributing to low turnout at the polls include political, social, economic perceptions of the voters. This article recommends that multisectoral efforts be concerted to address the major challenge at hand.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"446 - 456"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43185870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2151688
M. Nagar
ABSTRACT This article brings politics and Democratic Developmental State (DDS) theory back into the debates surrounding the operationalisation of Developmental Local Government (DLG) in South Africa. It interrogates the extent to domestic political factors and actors have impacted the ability of the DLG to fulfil its constitutional and developmental mandate. It does so by adopting a theoretical case study methodology in assessing the functioning of South Africa’s DLG against three ‘micro-foundations’ of the DDS model: Developmental-Oriented Leadership, Effective Local ‘Pilot Agency’ and Meritocratic Bureaucracy, and Developmental Performance. It finds that the political imperatives and motives of the ANC at play at the onset of democracy in 1994 coupled with the local politicking ever since has crippled the ability of local government to fulfil its constitutional and developmental mandate. This article proposes the adoption of the Developmental Civil Society (DCS) model as a tool to circumvent South African local power politics and boost developmental capacity at the local level in order to fully realise a DDS. It goes beyond the objective of DLG through the self-empowerment of citizens, not only as policy formulators and passive recipients of development, but as active producers of inclusive socioeconomic development.
{"title":"South Africa’s dwindling developmental local government: a dying dream?","authors":"M. Nagar","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2151688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2151688","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article brings politics and Democratic Developmental State (DDS) theory back into the debates surrounding the operationalisation of Developmental Local Government (DLG) in South Africa. It interrogates the extent to domestic political factors and actors have impacted the ability of the DLG to fulfil its constitutional and developmental mandate. It does so by adopting a theoretical case study methodology in assessing the functioning of South Africa’s DLG against three ‘micro-foundations’ of the DDS model: Developmental-Oriented Leadership, Effective Local ‘Pilot Agency’ and Meritocratic Bureaucracy, and Developmental Performance. It finds that the political imperatives and motives of the ANC at play at the onset of democracy in 1994 coupled with the local politicking ever since has crippled the ability of local government to fulfil its constitutional and developmental mandate. This article proposes the adoption of the Developmental Civil Society (DCS) model as a tool to circumvent South African local power politics and boost developmental capacity at the local level in order to fully realise a DDS. It goes beyond the objective of DLG through the self-empowerment of citizens, not only as policy formulators and passive recipients of development, but as active producers of inclusive socioeconomic development.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"366 - 381"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47031012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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