October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
After thirty years of ANC dominance, the 2024 elections have ushered in multiparty politics in South Africa. Will the party’s centrist shift be enough to stop its descent, or is it destined to fracture further?
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
The country’s struggles with crime and corruption led many to tag it as a near-failed state. Yet the Rainbow Nation is in fact an unexpected success story, with a political landscape that is growing more vibrant and diverse.
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
South Africa’s government sought to heed expert advice with its covid lockdown, yet shortcomings in state capacity fatally undermined both the virus response and efforts to address its devastating economic toll.
October 2019, Volume 30, Issue 4
Despite the lack of electoral turnover in ANC-ruled South Africa, the country’s successful resistance to efforts at “state capture” under former president Jacob Zuma testifies to the vitality of its democracy.
April 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2
Nelson Mandela, who died in late 2013, fought for freedom for all the people of South Africa and masterfully guided his country’s transition to a nonracial democracy. His record on foreign policy is more ambiguous, but also instructive.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Contrary to popular wisdom, emerging democracies might be better off with a majoritarian electoral system rather than one based on proportional representation.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Evidence from waves of democratization shows proportional election systems, however imperfect, to be the better option in most contexts.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
When it comes to backing democracy and human rights in international forums, the behavior of the world’s six most influential rising democracies ranges from sympathetic support to borderline hostility.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
Despite improvements in South Africa’s socioeconomic landscape and the expansion of the black middle class since the end of apartheid, the country’s levels of poverty and inequality remain high and heavily correlated with race.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
The ANC saw its first-ever decline in vote share in South Africa's 2009 parliamentary elections. Will the ANC heed this warning to mend internal divisions and reconnect with voters?
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
The legislature is emerging as a "player" in some African countries, though not in others. What is the relationship between legislative development and democratic consolidation in Africa?
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
On the surface, intelligence-sector reform since the fall of apartheid has been a model of success, but the growing politicization of security-sector forces by the ruling ANC may pose a threat to the consolidation of South Africa's young democracy.
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
The ruling African National Congress has been an overwhelming presence in the politics of post-apartheid South Africa. The country's dominant-party system, despite its dangers, may be the strongest buttress for democracy.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Measurements that rely on perceptions of corruption can be misleading. What is needed is a method of gauging how well a country has set itself up to defend public integrity systematically and in all its dimensions.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Over the ten years since its first nonracial elections in 1994, South Africa has seen its democratic order become more firmly institutionalized, even as the electoral dominance of the ANC has continued to grow.
October 2003, Volume 14, Issue 4
Civic education can enhance democratic values and participation among adults in young democracies, but the training must be frequent and participatory. Otherwise adult civic education may not be worth doing.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
The decaying trajectory of democratization in South Africa represents a kind of settlement failure, resulting for the main parties in the transition having come to the table with incompatible cultural paradigms of negotiation.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
A decade after the end of apartheid, South African democracy may be headed for trouble because the country has yet to fulfill the three requirements of democratic consolidation: inequality-reducing economic growth, stable institutions, and a supportive political culture.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
The promotion of democracy in Africa has become the dominant theme of South Africa’s foreign policy. Yet the dilemmas this policy has confronted in practice have forced the government to alter its approach.
October 1999, Volume 10, Issue 4
Post-apartheid South Africa’s democratic quest resembles a good thriller–just as the plot seems clear, a twist appears in the tale.
October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
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January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
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October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Review of Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (1994).
October 1994, Volume 5, Issue 4
A review of South Africa: The Political Economy of Transformation, edited by Stephen John Stedman.
January 1993, Volume 4, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1991, Volume 2, Issue 3
A review of A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society, by Donald L. Horowitz.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
The Editors’ introduction to “South Africa’s Future.”
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Read the full essay here.
The ANC lost its majority for the first time, but populist forces were held at bay.
The African National Congress can no longer call all the shots, and opposition parties will have more sway. Will this lead to a more inclusive democracy or gridlock and division?
