A New Democratic Space in South Africa? – Mobilizing Towards Land Rights and Social Justice

While the dominant perspective in the state failure debate has described underdeveloped African countries as inherently undemocratic and dysfunctional, South Africa is deemed as an emerging economic power with exemplary democratic practices. At the same time, proponents of the democracy-development theory have made claims about the alleged relationship between a nation's socio-economic progression and its democratic institutions. Focusing mainly on South Africa, this article examines the validity of these claims and argues that given the prevailing race-based social divide and the immense socio-economic disparity, the process of democratization in South Africa has been rather limited. Indeed, democracy in South Africa manifests severe weaknesses equal to other African countries. Notwithstanding these weaknesses, the advent of social movements such as the Landless People's Movement points to the opening of a new democratic space that provides political opportunities for citizens.