JCH 2010 Volume 35 Issue 2
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Browsing JCH 2010 Volume 35 Issue 2 by Subject "Democracy"
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Item Open Access Continuity and change: an evaluation of the democracy-foreign policy nexus in post-apartheid South Africa(Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Hudson, HeidiIf foreign policy is viewed as an “intermestic” arena where the external meets the internal, then it becomes possible to see how internal domestic factors drive foreign policy making. In this context the democracy-foreign policy nexus and the role of governmental and non-governmental foreign policy actors help to reconcile ideals and interests and put foreign policy contradictions into perspective. The desirability of democratic participation in foreign policy is taken as a given, but agency has to go beyond representation to include issues of participation and political dialogue. The focus of this article is the democratic deficit of the Mbeki foreign policy (1999-2008), with some reference to the Zuma administration. The way in which foreign policy was personalised under the presidency of Mbeki was instrumental in closing the space for meaningful participation in the foreign policy processes. The article concludes that democratic foreign policy making is impeded by an overall deterioration in the quality of democracy in post-apartheid South Africa. It further contends that there is more continuity than change across the Mbeki and Zuma administrations’ policy orientations (both domestic and foreign) and warns that the challenges which Mbeki faced in terms of democratic consolidation may be exacerbated in the Zuma period if certain demons are not tackled head on.Item Open Access South Africa’s constitutional development: a matter of Machiavelli’s Prince and Hobbes’ Leviathan rather than Montesquieu’s Spirit of the laws?(Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Labuschagne, PieterThe democratisation and constitutional development of South Africa from a dominant parliament to a new constitutional order with a supreme constitution, was a significant development in the country’s constitutional development. However, the adoption of a supreme constitution is not necessarily an indication that a country has been fully democratised. In this article it is suggested that the level of a country’s democracy could also be measured by identifying the source or object of authority that enjoys the broadest legitimacy in society. This source or object of legitimacy will give an indication of the level of a state’s political and democratic maturity and consolidation. In an effort to measure South Africa’s level of democratic maturity and consolidation a theoretical framework was developed in the article that was based on the assumptions of Ken Wilber and Max Weber. The article points out that it is very important for further political development and democratic maturity in a state that the source or object of authority should be located on the second tier that consists of legal-rational rules. However, it seems that the majority of support in South Africa is based on the first tier, which predominately exists of a pre-rational level that focuses on traditional and charismatic authorities.