Overview
- Challenges arguments suggesting that the democracy established after 1994 is unrelated to people’s power
- Seeks to show that the dominant discourse of democracy in the ANC has been shaped by the notion of vanguardism
- Extends our existing knowledge of the intellectual heritage and conceptual trajectory of South Africa’s ruling party
Part of the book series: The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy (PSTCD)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
Keywords
- participatory democracy
- ANC
- South African politics
- participatory policy
- democratic consolidation
- people’s power
- democracy
- discourse of democracy
- ANC democratic thought
- vanguardism
- vanguard movement
- radical democratic theory
- framing of participation
- citizen participation
- democratic crisis
- popular protest
About this book
This book examines the development of democratic thought in the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, with a focus on the movement’s ideas about participatory democracy. It makes particular reference to two key periods: the 1980s ‘people’s power’ movement and the subsequent years of policy formulation from 1990 when the ANC began to design and implement a system of participatory democracy alongside a representative government. Through the examination of historic documents and in-depth interviews with former ANC activists, government officials and those involved in policy development, the author explores the inspiration for the party’s commitment to establishing participatory democracy. The book combines democratic theory and political and intellectual history to look at the role of popular participation as part of a broader trajectory of the ANC’s democratic thought. It critically engages with concepts used in the party’s participatory discourse with a view to deepening our understanding of how ideas have shaped the construction of South Africa’s democracy.
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Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Heidi Brooks is Senior Lecturer in Political and International Studies at IIE MSA and Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Social Change, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She has produced several publications on the development of democratic thought in the ANC and on conceptions of democracy in South Africa.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The African National Congress and Participatory Democracy
Book Subtitle: From People's Power to Public Policy
Authors: Heidi Brooks
Series Title: The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25744-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-25743-9Published: 29 August 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-25746-0Published: 29 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-25744-6Published: 15 August 2019
Series ISSN: 2947-4469
Series E-ISSN: 2947-4477
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 244
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations
Topics: African Politics, Democracy, Public Policy, Political Communication, Electoral Politics