Education Policymaking at National Level

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Cameron ◽  
Vinothan Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
National Level ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Robust Performance ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Strong Performance

When one looks at the arrangements that have been put in place for managing performance in South Africa’s public sector since 1994—and specifically in the education sector—they are enormously impressive. But in general these efforts have not translated into strong performance. We find that policies for managing performance in basic education could best be explained as the outcome of a strategic interaction among three sets of actors: technocratically oriented public officials in the bureaucracy, teacher labour unions (especially SADTU, as the dominant union), and the African National Congress, in its dual role overseeing the education bureaucracy and as head of a ruling political alliance. In practice, the political strength of organized labour has resulted in outwardly impressive initiatives to promote performance management being diluted and falling well short of the aspiration of robust performance management.

Albert Luthuli and the African National Congress: A Bio-Bibliography

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 345-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy C. Woodson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
White Men ◽  
Nobel Prize Winner ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Seventh Day Adventist ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Family ◽  
National Congress

Seek ye the political kingdom and all shall be yours.No minority tyranny in history ever survived the opposition of the majority. Nor will it survive in South Africa. The end of white tyranny is near.In their Portraits of Nobel Laureates in Peace, Wintterle and Cramer wrote that “the odds against the baby born at the Seventh-Day Adventist Mission near Bulawayo in Rhodesia in 1898 becoming a Nobel Prize winner were so astronomical as to defy calculation. He was the son of a proud people, the descendant of Zulu chieftains and warriors. But pride of birth is no substitute for status rendered inferior by force of circumstance, and in Luthuli's early years, the native African was definitely considered inferior by the white man. If his skin was black, that could be considered conclusive proof that he would never achieve anything; white men would see to that. However, in Luthuli's case they made a profound mistake--they allowed him to have an education.”If there is an extra-royal gentry in Zulu society, then it was into this class that Albert John Luthuli was born. Among the Zulus, chieftainship is hereditary only for the Paramount Chief; all regional chiefs are elected. The Luthuli family though, at least through the 1950s, monopolized the chieftainship of the Abasemakholweni (literally “converts”) tribe for nearly a century. Luthuli's grandfather Ntaba, was the first in the family to head the tribe and around 1900, his uncle Martin Luthuli took over.

scholarly journals Totstandkoming van de Grondwettelijke Krachtlijnen Voor Een Democratisch Zuid-Afrika

Afrika Focus ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Ted Pekane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Translation ◽  
Extensive Introduction ◽  
National Congress ◽  
External Forces

The Realization of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa Africa Focus publishes a Dutch translation of the “constitutional guidelines for a democratic South Africa”, adopted in March 1988 at Lusaka, by the African National congress (ANC), together with a preface (by F. Reyntjens) and an extensive introduction written by Ted Pekane, member of the constitutional committee of the ANC, about the drafting ofthis important text. In the preface is referred to the political signification of a constitutional text in Africa today and to the more pragmatic content of the guidelines, compared to the Freedom Charter of 1955. T. Pekane explains the external factors that contributed to the drafting of the guidelines. He also points out the dangers of the “ acceptable” models of constitution for the post-Apartheid period advanced by internal and external forces: a lot of those models are discreet options for a status-quo.

Terrorism Success Stories Revisited

2018 ◽  
pp. 42-54
Author(s):  
Max Abrahms
Keyword(s):  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Strategic Model ◽  
History Of ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Political Effectiveness

This chapter revisits the most commonly cited examples in history of terrorism paying politically. If even these cases fail to illustrate the political effectiveness of terrorism then that would further undermine the evidentiary basis of the Strategic Model. Many scholars point to the political successes of the Irgun, African National Congress, and Hezbollah as evidence that terrorism is an effective instrument of coercion. Yet these campaigns did not coerce the occupying powers to withdraw by attacking their civilians. Instead, the groups focused their attacks on military and other government targets. This chapter shows that people overestimate the value of terrorist campaigns by lumping them together with guerrilla campaigns that have been far more successful.

scholarly journals Elusive Pursuit of Reconciliation and Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
National Congress

Debates on whether reconciliation is taking place and particularly the issue of inclusive development continue in South Africa. Reconciliation is understood as a process whereby different population groups in South Africa peacefully coexist and restore amicable relations which were fractured by colonialism and apartheid. Inclusive development has to do with the socio-economic transformation that involves, or rather benefits all the peoples of a country. Socio-economic transformation is considered slow since the dawn of democracy, with nation-building, development, freedom, and related objectives having suffered in post-apartheid South Africa. The notions of justice and inclusivity require comprehensive analysis, especially many years after the formal end of apartheid in 1994. The paper examines development and reconciliation, in seeking an explanation for what appears to be a changing political landscape in South Africa, epitomised by the decline in the number of votes that the governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is receiving since 2009 while the Economic Freedom Fighters, a relatively new party, is gaining traction. It is argued that the slow pace of inclusive development and weak reconciliation are compromising the ANC, resulting in the evolution of the political landscape in South Africa. Essentially, the inability to improve reconciliation has resulted in weak inclusive development and makes it difficult for South Africa to become a nation.

scholarly journals The Realization of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Pekane ◽  
Filip Reyntjens
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Translation ◽  
Extensive Introduction ◽  
National Congress ◽  
External Forces

Africa Focus publishes a Dutch translation of the "constitutional guidelines for a democratic South Africa", adopted in March 1988 at Lusaka, by the African National congress (ANC), together with a preface (by F.Reyntjens) and an extensive introduction written by Ted Pekane, member of the constitutional committee of the ANC, about the drafting of this important text. In the preface is referred to the political signification of a constitutional text in Africa today and to the more pragmatic content of the guidelines, compared to the Freedom Charter of 1955. T. Pekane explains the external factors that contributed to the drafting of the guidelines. He also points out the dangers of the "acceptable" models of constitution for the post-Apartheid period advanced by internal and external forces : a lot of those models are discreet options for a status-quo. KEYWORDS : African National Congress, constitution, politics, South Africa 

The Indian National Congress: a hundred-year perspective

1987 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-305
Author(s):  
David Taylor
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
The Past ◽  
Continuous Stream ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sheer Number

India, it is often pointed out both by Indians and by others, is the world's largest democracy, not simply in terms of the sheer number of people who participate in elections but also because of the continuous stream of open political activity. Democracy is not just a label that has been applied to the country at the whim of an individual or clique but is manifestly something that is alive and well. In the last decade alone, there have been two changes of government at the national level, and the government in New Delhi currently coexists, more or less willingly, with non-Congress ministries in several major states. There have indeed been voices to suggest that India in its present economic circumstances cannot afford the luxury of uncontrolled political activity. One of the arguments, for example, put forward for a presidential system has been that the level of “unproductive” political activity would be reduced. It could certainly be argued that the relatively sluggish rate of economic growth that has been maintained over the past four decades is linked to political constraints. That question, however, is not the theme of this article. For better or worse, India's democracy is here to stay, and one of the most important tasks for the historian or the political scientist, is to try to identify the factors that have given it its apparent staying power.

The Withering Away of Politically Salient Territorial Cleavages in South Africa and the Emergence of Watermark Ethnic Federalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 219-236
Author(s):  
Nico Steytler
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
National Party ◽  
Ethnic Federalism ◽  
Territorial Politics ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Right

This chapter examines how a stable, legitimate, and highly regarded constitutional dispensation has successfully withered away the political salience of territorial cleavages in South Africa and paved the way for a stronger form of ethnic federalism. It first explains the context that led to South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy before discussing the period of constitutional engagement in 1990–96, focusing on the deal between the National Party (NP) and the African National Congress (ANC) that resulted in the adoption of an interim Constitution in December 1993. It also explores the constitutional provisions that sought to address the demands of the right-wing Afrikaners and the Zulu nationalists, along with the ratification of the final Constitution in 1996. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the outcome of the South African constitutional settlement and the important lessons that can be drawn from the unmaking of territorial politics in the country.

The Congress Party Model: South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) and India's Indian National Congress (INC) as Dominant Parties

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiven Reddy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Party System ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
Congress Party ◽  
Dominant Parties ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Indian National Congress

Abstract The paper argues that the model developed to analyze the dominance of the Indian National Congress of the political party system during the first two decades of independence helps in our understanding of the unfolding party system in South Africa. A comparison of the Congress Party and the African National Congress suggests many similarities. The paper is divided into three broad sections. The first part focuses on the dominant party system in India. In the second part, I apply the model of the Congress System to South Africa. I argue that the three features of the Congress System – a dominant party with mass based legitimacy, constituted by many factions and operating on the idiom of consensus-seeking internal politics, and sources of opposition who cooperate with factions in the dominant party to influence the political agenda – prevails in South Africa. In the third part, I draw on the comparison between the ANC and Congress Party to account for why certain nationalist movements become dominant parties. I emphasize that broad nationalist movements displaying high degrees of legitimacy and embracing democratic practices are adaptive to changing contexts and develop organizational mechanisms to manage internal party conflict. They contribute to the consolidation of democracy rather than undermine it.

Gandhi Beckons

2019 ◽  
pp. 56-80
Author(s):  
Arundhati C. Khandkar ◽  
Ashok C. Khandkar
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Indian National Congress

Gandhi asked Laxmanshastri to stay back at his Bardoli ashram to help him in his drive to bring the Untouchables into the mainstream. Laxmanshastri agreed, thinking that this was his opportunity to amplify his reform efforts at the national level. He plunged into the satyāgraha movement and was soon jailed by the British for sedition. In jail, he read Marx’s writing and like many intellectuals of the time both in India and Europe, he became interested in Marxism and its potential to create a just society. He also continued to argue against caste segregation and discrimination. It was in the notorious Yerawada prison that he helped Gandhi formulate arguments against those advanced by the orthodox upper caste Indians who dominated the leadership in the Indian National Congress, to including Untouchables in the political mainstream. When traditional priests objected to the pratiloma marriage arrangement of Devdas, Gandhi’s son, to Laxmi, Rajagopalachari’s daughter, he used a lawyerly interpretation of caste and performed their wedding.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Structural Transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 312-336
Author(s):  
Pamela Mondliwa ◽  
Simon Roberts
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Enforcement ◽  
Industrial Policies ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Political Settlement

This chapter examines the evolution of the political settlement in South Africa, which is critical for understanding its structural transformation path as well as for the reconfiguration of industrial policy. The success or failure of countries to drive structural change is understood in terms of the extent to which the political settlement, or governing coalition of interests, supports the growth of diversified industrial activities with higher levels of productivity. The chapter analyses why and how, despite the developmental agenda of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), South Africa has failed to achieve its production transformation. The chapter finds that the political settlement forged around South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy created the conditions for a corporate restructuring of the economy characterized by high profitability, despite low investments. This has involved power entrenchment in large incumbent organizations and coalitions of rentieristic interests, which have undermined necessary industrial policy enforcement. Persistent high unemployment and inequality have fuelled dissatisfaction and contestation over the core objectives of a more developmentalist state. Industrial policies have also been undermined by the fragmentation of the state, leading to misaligned policies.

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