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South Africa : limits to change, the political economy of transition / Hein Marais.
LIBRA DT1974 .M37 1998
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Marais, Hein.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- South Africa--Politics and government--1994-.
- South Africa.
- Politics and government.
- South Africa--Economic conditions--1991-.
- Economic conditions.
- Physical Description:
- xii, 290 pages ; 22 cm
- Place of Publication:
- London ; New York : Zed Books ; Cape Town : University of Cape Town, 1998.
- Summary:
- The sense of hope generated by South Africa's unprecedented democratic transition is already giving way to the grimmer realities of how little has changed for the mass of the population. Whether it be jobs, income inequality, housing, or access to land, the powerful analysis contained in this book draws on, and develops, the rich structural and political understandings developed by radical South African intellectuals in the 1980s. It explains the reasons why the ANC, now that it is in power, has resisted calls for more radical options and instead pursued quite conservative economic management policies. The consequences -- in terms of continuing poverty, ongoing violence and, in the longer term, declining support for the ANC and democratic institutions -- are profound.
- Contents:
- 1 Origins of a divided society 7
- The roots are sunk 8
- The rise of the working class 11
- Resistance and defeats 12
- The rise of African nationalism 14
- The system hardens 16
- Restructuring under an iron fist 20
- The post-war accumulation strategy 21
- The popular forces fight back 22
- The swing to armed struggle 25
- Into the doldrums 27
- Apartheid's harvest 29
- The 'boom' years 30
- The model falters 30
- 2 Managing the crisis 37
- Resurgence of resistance 38
- The lights dim 40
- The first phase of reforms: 1977-82 42
- Reshaping the divide 42
- Reshaping the labour regime 43
- Seizing space 45
- The second phase of reforms: 1982-7 46
- Recasting the terrain 47
- From resistance to 'revolution' 49
- The third phase of reforms: 1987-9 55
- The vagaries of insurrectionism 56
- Moments of truth 61
- The wilting of civil society 62
- Stalemate 63
- A new conjuncture 67
- The leap into the unknown 71
- A few secrets of success 73
- 3 The shape of the transition 83
- The stakes are stacked 83
- The old and the new 85
- Outlines of the settlement 90
- Hidden contours of the transition 93
- 4 The battleground of the economy 100
- The contours of inequality 105
- The weight of globalization 111
- The damage done 116
- South Africa in the world system 120
- Trends in trade 121
- Trends in financial relations 122
- Changing the terms of incorporation 123
- Attracting foreign investment 124
- Becoming competitive 127
- Who's GATT knocking? 128
- Lifting exchange controls 129
- The triumph of orthodoxy 131
- South Africa and the region 132
- Skewed integration 133
- Good neighbours? 135
- 5 The evolution of ANC economic policy A short walk to orthodoxy 146
- Smoke and mirrors 147
- Rearguard actions 156
- A battle lost 156
- What happened to MERG? 158
- All GEARed up 160
- Boosting growth 162
- Creating jobs 167
- Trade, taxes and financial controls 169
- Can GEAR reduce social inequality? 170
- 6 The RDP: a programme for transformation 177
- Genesis of the RDP 178
- The road to development 180
- Who pays the piper? 182
- The RDP as a 'terrain of struggle' 183
- Views from business 184
- Views from the left 185
- Deconstructed development 188
- The RDP in practice 190
- The utility of the RDP 191
- Quo Vadis, the RDP? 193
- 7 The popular movement in flux The state of play 199
- The 'discovery' of civil society 200
- A brief history 203
- In the eyes of the beholder 204
- Civil society in the new era 206
- Shocks of the new 209
- Identity crises 209
- The rise of technicism 210
- Urban concentration, rural isolation 211
- The cheque is in the mail 212
- Migrations 213
- Complications of difference and identity 214
- Gender and the democratic movement 217
- Trade unions
- the movement? 222
- The ground shifts 224
- The politics of unionism 226
- Inside or outside? 230
- 8 The popular movement in flux Ways forward 241
- Rethinking the state and civil society 241
- Hegemony and its taskmasters 244
- What's our mission now? 247
- Practical regroupings 250
- Beyond the borders 252
- 9 Into the new 256.
- ISBN:
- 1919713131
- 1856495434
- 1856495442
- OCLC:
- 39095639
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