The Politics of Necessity: Community Organizing and Democracy in South Africa (Critical Human Rights)

264 Pages·2011·1.15 MB·English

by  Elke Zuern

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The Politics of Necessity
Critical Human Rights
Series Editors
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Steve J. Stern Scott Straus
Books in the series Critical Human Rights emphasize research that
opens new ways to think about and understand human rights. The series
values in particular empirically grounded and intellectually open research
that eschews simplified accounts of human rights events and processes.
In the mid-1990s, South Africa underwent a remarkable transition from an
apartheid state to a multiracial democracy. This book raises key questions
about what that democratization has achieved and what democracy itself means.
Most discussions of democracy and democratization focus on liberal political
rights and procedural matters. That is, the standard questions are: Is the playing
field fair? Are elections competitive? Are civil society institutions, including
the media, free to operate in their societies? Elke Zuern argues that this focus
on civil and political rights, as well as on procedural matters, misses a fundamen-
tal set of issues related to equality and material well-being. Many people in poor
societies expect democracy to bring with it improvements in their standards of
living, including income, health, housing, and education. Zuern contends that
the fight against apartheid was rooted in such concerns for social and economic
rights, and that current dissatisfaction with the postapartheid regime stems
from its failure to address these substantive issues adequately. Reflecting a deep
engagement with South Africa, The Politics of Necessityalso speaks to the situa-
tion in other countries of Africa as well as in parts of Latin America. In challeng-
ing narratives that concentrate exclusively on one category of rights, this book
prompts us to consider what rights are fundamentally human.
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The Politics of Necessity
Community Organizing and
Democracy in South Africa
Elke Zuern
The University of Wisconsin Press
Publication of this volume has been made possible, in part, through support
from the A F   C  L 
S at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and from the E
F, I., the charitable arm of The Capital Times.
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5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zuern, Elke, 1968–
The politics of necessity: community organizing and democracy in South Africa /
Elke Zuern.
p. cm.—(Critical human rights)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-299-25014-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-299-25013-3 (e-book)
1. South Africa—Politics and government—1989–1994. 2. South Africa—Politics
and government—1994– 3. Community organization—South Africa. 4. Basic
needs—Government policy—South Africa. 5. Poverty—Political aspects—South Africa.
I. Title. II. Series: Critical human rights.
DT1971.Z84 2011
322.4´30968—dc22
2010011579
Copublished with University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
Customers in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland should order
from University of KwaZulu-Natal Press at www.ukznpress.co.za.
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To
  
and ,
for your love and support

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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 3
1. Community Organizing in South Africa 22
2. Material Inequality and Political Rights 42
3. Power to the People! 68
4. Disciplining Dissent 98
5. Contentious Democracy 133
6. Substantive Democracy 168
Notes 189
References 207
Index 235
vii

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Illustrations
Map of South Africa 2
Vaal Civic Association flier 31
Federation of Cape Civic Associations newsletter 49
Income by population group, 1995–2008 56
Operation Khanyisa Movement poster 63
Soweto march flier 85
SANCO membership flier 117
National Assembly election results, 1994–2009 143
ix