SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL POLICY ‘TOKENISM’ AS AUSTERITY GRIPS

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Bond

The South African government’s mandate was to transform state social policy and correct historic class, racial, gendered and other injustices. The main design patterns of economic and social policy during the 1990s-2000s, however, can be characterised respectively as ‘neoliberal’ (insofar as they favour the market) and ‘tokenistic’ (insofar as that part of the society that is not served by the market is provided only a small fraction of what is required to live a decent life). The state has sufficient resources and could tax or prevent profit outflows that would allow surpluses to be redistributed. But as part of a more general tendency to ‘talk left, walk right,’ the ruling party has declined to engage in substantive redistribution, risking the ire of its constituencies. The rise of left opposition forces coincides with a new top-down commitment to austerity, one that already began to fray by mid-2016. Only when those forces become more coherent, potentially by the time of the 2019 national election, will a full accounting of the damage of tokenistic social policy be possible, as part of a systemic effort to reverse course. 

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-82
Author(s):  
Christiaan Beyers

In the context of transitional justice, how does the reinvented state come to be assumed as a social fact? South African land restitution interpellates victims of apartheid- and colonial-era forced removals as claimants, moral and legal subjects of a virtuous 'new' state. In the emotional narratives of loss and suffering called forth in land claim forms, the state is addressed as a subject capable of moral engagement. Claim forms also 'capture' affects related to the event of forced removals as an unstable political resource. However, within an ultimately legal and bureaucratic process, the desire for recognition is typically not reciprocated. Moreover, material settlements are indefinitely delayed due to political and institutional complications. The resulting disillusionment is counterweighed by persistent aspirations for state redress.


Author(s):  
T. V. Zvyagintseva ◽  
S. I. Myronchenko ◽  
N. I. Kytsyuk ◽  
O. V. Naumova

Considering the particular danger of remote skin reactions to ultraviolet irradiation (UVI), it is advisable to use ointments with antioxidant activity to reduce its negative effect on the skin. The rationale for the choice of ointments with antioxidant activity was the fact that they reduce the damaging effect of ultraviolet radiation in the erythemal and early post-erythemal period. The presence of a regular connection between the development of the early and late periods has given reason to assume the protective effect of ointments on the remote skin reactions. Objective: to study the effect of thiotriazoline ointment and thiotriazoline ointment with silver nanoparticles on the state of the morphological structures of the skin of guinea pigs after local UVI. Material and methods of research. The study involved 132 albino guinea pigs weighing 400-500 g, divided into 4 groups: 1 - intact, 2 - control (guinea pigs subjected to local UVI), 3 and 4 main ones. The third main group included guinea pigs that after UVI were administered thiotriazoline ointment in the treatment and prophylactic regime, the fourth main group included guinea pigs that after UVI were administered thiotriazoline ointment with silver nanoparticles in the same mode as Group 3. Ointments were applied 1 hour before irradiation and daily until erythema disappeared. Ultraviolet erythema was caused by irradiation in 1 minimum erythemal dose. After 2, 4 hours, on the 3rd, 8th, 15th, 21st, 28th day, the fragments of irradiated skin were investigated using histochemical and morphometric methods (fibroblast density and epidermis thickness). Results. Morphological changes in the skin after applying ointments with antioxidant activity were unidirectional. It was revealed that in the early periods after irradiation, thiotrazoline ointment and thiotrazoline ointment with silver nanoparticles do not affect changes in the thickness of the epidermis, but statistically significantly reduce the density of fibroblasts in the dermis on the 3rd day of the experiment compared to the control group. In the later periods, under the influence of thiotriazoline ointment, a gradual decrease in the thickness of the epidermis, which reached the norm by the end of the experiment, was observed. On the 8th day, the maximum density of fibroblasts was recorded, in the subsequent periods of the experiment, the index gradually decreased, which was accompanied by collagenization of the papillary layer in the loci of damage to collagen and elastic fibers detected in 50% of cases. In later times, under the influence of thiotriazoline ointment with silver nanoparticles, the processes of restoring the morphological structures of the skin occurred faster. In parallel with the decrease in the density of fibroblasts in the loci of the previous damage to the collagen and elastic fibers of the papillary layer, thickening of collagen fibers was observed, replacing them with segments of destruction of elastic fibers. In this group, at the end of the experiment, the collagenization locus was small, single, occurring in 16.7% of cases. Conclusions Ointments with antioxidant activity exert a positive effect on the state of morphological structures of the skin, damaged as a result of local UVI, in erythemal and post-erythemic periods. In the early periods after the local UVI, there was a general tendency for the effect of both ointments, as they reduced the density of fibroblasts on the 3rd day, but did not result in complete normalization. In the late period after local UVI , under the influence of thiotriazoline ointment and thiotriazoline ointment with silver nanoparticles, thickness of the epidermis (by 21st and 15th day, respectively) and density of fibroblasts (by the 28th day) decreased to normal while without treatment both indicators exceeded the norm by several times for 28 days of the experiment.


Author(s):  
Fanie du Toit

Reading South African history through the lens of interdependence helps explain the disappointment that many South Africans feel in relation to reconciliation. While they are justified in feeling let down, owing to rising inequality and social exclusion, it is wrong to blame Mandela’s strategy of just interdependence because it was abandoned too early. In seeking to overcome oppression, reconciliation is forward-looking and predicated on rebuilding relationships in divided societies. Dealing with a violent past is valuable when striving for a more just future. Reconciliation fosters just, inclusive, and fair societies and is locally owned and driven. A progressive approach to reconciliation is also needed. Reconciliation recognizes the inherent interdependence between citizens themselves, and between citizens and the state. These relationships are progressively re-established in more just ways. In so doing, it helps to create conditions in which social goods such as forgiveness, the rule of law, or democracy become possible.


1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 537
Author(s):  
Wendy Sarvasy ◽  
Cynthia R. Daniels ◽  
Seth Koven ◽  
Sonya Michel
Keyword(s):  

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELIZA W. Y. LEE

This article discusses the politics of social policy development in Hong Kong following the Asian financial crisis. It examines the cause, mode and political significance of social policy reform in an Asian late industrialiser that has been experiencing the twin pressures of economic globalisation and socio-economic change. Financial austerity has prompted the state to adopt social policy reforms through re-commodification and cost containment, resulting in the retrenchment of the residual welfare state. The state's policy choices are structured by local politics, including the state of political development and the path dependence nature of policy change. The article questions the effectiveness of the social authoritarian approaches adopted by the state in attempting to renegotiate the social pact with its citizens, and contends that progressive development in social policy is inevitably bound to democratisation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 992-1007
Author(s):  
Miha Kosmač

The article analyzes the process of buildingitalianitàin the case of migration of population from Pola/Pula that started as early as May 1945 and culminated in an organized process that officially began on 23 January 1947 and lasted until 20 March that same year. The article sheds light on the premises of that identity by analyzing complex activities of the Italian authorities who wanted to “defend Italianism” in Pola/Pula, as well as in other border areas of former Venezia Giulia. At the state level, they were mainly carried out by the Office for the Julian March/Ufficio per la Venezia Giuliaand following reorganization beginning at the end of 1946 by the Office for Border Areas/Ufficio per le Zone di Confine, and at the local level by a network of pro-Italian organizations and groups. Analysis contributes to the understanding of the top-down and bottom-upitalianitàbuilding process. On the local level, common identity was built upon the myth of thepatria, reiteration of traumatic/“wounded” memories and victim presentation of the “Italian” population, fear to be separated from thepatria, and unjust peace treaty propaganda. Simultaneously, the “Italian” population understood the Italian state as their defender.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christofer Berglund

After the Rose Revolution, President Saakashvili tried to move away from the exclusionary nationalism of the past, which had poisoned relations between Georgians and their Armenian and Azerbaijani compatriots. His government instead sought to foster an inclusionary nationalism, wherein belonging was contingent upon speaking the state language and all Georgian speakers, irrespective of origin, were to be equals. This article examines this nation-building project from a top-down and bottom-up lens. I first argue that state officials took rigorous steps to signal that Georgian-speaking minorities were part of the national fabric, but failed to abolish religious and historical barriers to their inclusion. I next utilize a large-scale, matched-guise experiment (n= 792) to explore if adolescent Georgians ostracize Georgian-speaking minorities or embrace them as their peers. I find that the upcoming generation of Georgians harbor attitudes in line with Saakashvili's language-centered nationalism, and that current Georgian nationalism therefore is more inclusionary than previous research, or Georgia's tumultuous past, would lead us to believe.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Davie

This article places the British material on religion and social policy in a comparative perspective. In order to do so, it introduces a recently completed project on welfare and religion in eight European societies, entitled ‘Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective’. Theoretically it draws on the work of two key thinkers: Gøsta Esping-Andersen and David Martin. The third section elaborates the argument: all West European societies are faced with the same dilemmas regarding the provision of welfare and all of them are considering alternatives to the state for the effective delivery of services. These alternatives include the churches.


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