Fighting for Democracy: Popular Organizations and Postapartheid Government in South Africa
Abstract:Elite, top-down models of democratic transition commonly miss key popular challenges and opportunities for institutionalizing stable, representative regimes. Civil society theorists often mistakenly assume that civil society organizations will support the creation and strengthening of a democratic regime. This article argues that in order to understand the process of regime change, we must look at both macro- and micro-level institutions and practices, as well as at the practical and ideological struggles over democracy that will define the regime. In South Africa, this struggle is seen most clearly in the interactions between popular organizations, such as the civics, and the African National Congress (ANC). How popular organizations make demands and how these demands are met will determine not only the form of the new regime, but also the stability of the most basic rights associated with democracy.