JCH 2010 Volume 35 Issue 2

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Road, air and sea transport at Kleinzee, 1924 to 2000
    (Faculty of Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010) Coetzer, Pieter
    Because of its out-of-the-way location on the West Coast of South Africa, transport was a problem for Kleinzee (Namaqualand Mines) since the discovery of diamonds during the 1920s. The diamond industry grew and with it the need for efficient transport. Kleinzee was not, as was the case with Alexander Bay, to its north, a state-controlled mine, which inevitably complicated the expansion of transport systems. In this article the supply of road, air and sea transport between the years 1924 and 2000 is briefly highlighted.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Piracy on the African east coast: a political science perspective
    (Faculty of Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010) Neethling, Theo
    Growing activities of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa have increasingly threatened maritime security on the African east coast. The severity of the crisis has compelled the international community to actively pursue solutions to the problem. In this context a variety of state and non-state actors have become involved and concerned with the problems and challenges that confront(ed) relevant role-players as it became evident that the manifestation of piracy is a multifaceted phenomenon. There are longer-term strategic implications, but also short-term practical or tactical issues to be addressed. The phenomenon of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa is of special academic interest to the discipline of Political Science. Through assessment, interpretation, appraisal, and ascribing meaning to developments and events from different subdisciplinary angles, this article endeavours to provide a political science perspective on the phenomenon of maritime piracy on the African east coast.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Co-operative governance and good governance: reality or myth?
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Coetzee, Tania
    Serious questions are being asked concerning the manifestation of instability in society. The phenomena of maladministration, corruption, unrest, protests, failure in leadership, and the results of protest marches and poor service delivery, make one believe that the value, functioning and contribution of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations is a myth. When public protests and instability are analysed, the main issue found at the heart of the problem concerns co-operation, implementation and co-ordination between the various spheres of government. Co-operation is needed to ensure satisfactory service delivery. The question can be asked if there is a direct relationship between poor service delivery, public protests and co-operative governance and good governance. Firstly the conceptual and constitutional framework of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations will be discussed. In the following section the problems and challenges facing good governance will be analysed. Aspects pertaining to structural tension, policy choices, responsibility, accountability and implications of problems with good governance will be assessed. The manifestation of practical situations will be viewed against the background of co-operative governance.
  • ItemOpen 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, Heidi
    If 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.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The South African National Defence Force, 1994–2009: A historical perspective
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Wessels, Andre
    On 27 April the new South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was established, comprising of the old South African Defence Force, plus the defence forces of the TBVC countries, the military wings of the African National Congress and Pan-Africanist Congress, as well as certain KwaZulu-Natal Self-protection Forces. Proceeding from the assumption that any country undeniably needs a well-trained, well-equipped and disciplined defence force, it is the purpose of this article to provide a review of the history of the SANDF in the first 15 years of its existence (i.e. 1994-2009), and to critically analyse the developments in the SANDF during those years. The track record of the SANDF in the years 1994 to 2009 is evaluated, with special reference to integration, affirmative action and transformation in general. The SANDF’s order of battle in 2009 is compared with its 1994 order of battle; and the problems/challenges faced by the SANDF in the course of 15 years are discussed, including the controversial arms deal, the impact that HIV/AIDS has had on the SANDF, rationalisation, problems with regard to discipline, and the SANDF’s role in peace-keeping operations.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Wensdenkery? Die inburgering van demokratiese militêre waardes in die SA Nasionale Weermag
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Fourie, Deon
    WISHFUL THINKING? THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF DEMOCRATIC MILITARY VALUES IN THE SA NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE When the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was established in 1994 the Minister of Defence perceived a need for its members to be subjected to close civilian control and for the armed forces to be educated to observe the rule of law and to be inculcated with the spirit of democratic civil military relations. This article is an account of the foundations of the teaching of Civic Education in the SANDF as a means of regulating civil-military relations by developing soldiers’ knowledge of their democratic rights and duties under the law. A description is given of the process of developing syllabi and substantive teaching material that emphasises the democratic features of military professionalism and civil military relations together with an explanation of the successes and failures experienced. The author concludes that the introduction of the Code of Conduct for Uniformed Personnel and providing instruction to a substantial number of middle rank officers and other ranks were a significant success. However, the failure to influence subsequent ministers, the heads of the services and the Defence Secretariat as well as the abolition of the supervisory Civic Education Evaluation and Advisory Board have seriously weakened the institutionalisation of Civic Education in the SANDF.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Piracy on the African east coast: a political science perspective
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Neethling, Theo
    Growing activities of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa have increasingly threatened maritime security on the African east coast. The severity of the crisis has compelled the international community to actively pursue solutions to the problem. In this context a variety of state and non-state actors have become involved and concerned with the problems and challenges that confront(ed) relevant role-players as it became evident that the manifestation of piracy is a multifaceted phenomenon. There are longer-term strategic implications, but also short-term practical or tactical issues to be addressed. The phenomenon of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa is of special academic interest to the discipline of Political Science. Through assessment, interpretation, appraisal, and ascribing meaning to developments and events from different subdisciplinary angles, this article endeavours to provide a political science perspective on the phenomenon of maritime piracy on the African east coast.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Road, air and sea transport at Kleinzee, 1924 to 2000
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Coetzer, Pieter
    Because of its out-of-the-way location on the West Coast of South Africa, transport was a problem for Kleinzee (Namaqualand Mines) since the discovery of diamonds during the 1920s. The diamond industry grew and with it the need for efficient transport. Kleinzee was not, as was the case with Alexander Bay, to its north, a state-controlled mine, which inevitably complicated the expansion of transport systems. In this article the supply of road, air and sea transport between the years 1924 and 2000 is briefly highlighted.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Jacob Zuma's "Zuluness" appeal during the April 2009 elections in South Africa: an attempt to break the IFP's grip on Zulu social and political structures?
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010) Twala, Chitja
    The article reflects on the role played by Jacob Zuma as President of the African National Congress (ANC) using his Zuluness to break the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP’s) political control of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province. The rationale for this venture by Zuma elicited an outcry from the IFP, which for long had used the Zuluness appeal in the province to garner votes during the elections. It is therefore argued that the use of the Zuluness appeal by Zuma and the ANC helped the organization in winning the April 2009 elections in the province. The author negates the widely held simplistic viewpoint that in the KZN province, the ANC was mostly voted into power because its President was a Zulu. Therefore, the article scrutinises arguments for and against the usage of Zuluness as an appeal to galvanize support on behalf of the ANC.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Regime transition in South Africa-liberation oligarchical tendencies?
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010) Duvenhage, Andre; Venter, Jan
    The important question now is Where is the second transition (in other words the post-Polokwane epoch) taking South Africa? Is the country moving away from polyarchy and approaching “a type of hegemony” as part of a larger regime transition to a possible oligarchy? The terra incognita of 2010 and further has to be explored urgently. With this in view a deductive theoretical model will indicate the direction of the second regime transition. Central concepts and structures to be included in this part of the article are complex systems, parties and party systems, as well as neopatrimonialism. The theoretical model will secondly be applied to the post-Polokwane South Africa.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The reformational legacy within political theory
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Strauss, Danie
    Political theory in the West continued to suffer from the disturbing one-sidedness of atomistic (individualistic) and holistic (universalistic) orientations precluding a proper understanding of the nature of a differentiated society and the place of the state as a public legal institution within it. In this contribution attention is asked for the theoretical legacy within which Prof. Daan Wessels pursued his teaching, research and public performances. Traditional theories of the state never succeeded in delimiting the competency of the state because they did not proceed from an understanding of the sphere-sovereignty of the jural aspect of reality that serves as the guiding or qualifying function of the state as a public legal institution, having its foundation within the cultural-historical aspect of reality.
  • ItemOpen 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, Pieter
    The 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.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Voorwoord = Foreword
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010) Hudson, Heidi
    Abstract not available
  • ItemOpen Access
    Voorwoord
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010) Hudson, Heidi
    Abstract not available