Strategic choices were an important factor in the decline of neighborhood-based civic organizations in South Africa's black townships during the process of democratization. But these strategic choices need to be understood in terms of the initial character of civic organizations as a "popular" rather than "social" movement in the 1980s, and the changes in the political context in the early and mid-1990s. During 1990-92 civics sought to define distinct roles for themselves representing the "community" or "civil society." But they did so within a conceptual framework that ignored, and could not accommodate, the emergence of "political society" (i.e., a party system, competitive elections and representative government) at the local level. This ensured their marginalization during 1994-96.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, Josie.1994. "Life in an Informal Settlement." Urban Forum5(2): 99-111.
2.
African National Congress (ANC).1990. "The Role of Civics" Mayibuye (December): 31-32.
3.
. 1991. "The African National Congress and its Relationship to Civics" ANC Political Education Discussion Paper No. 3.
4.
Atkinson, Doreen.1992. "Negotiated Urban Development: Lessons from the Coalface " Centre for Policy Studies Research Report No. 26 (November).
5.
Barrell, Howard.1992. "The Turn to the Masses: The African National Congress' Strategic Review of 1978-79" Journal of Southern African Studies18(1).
6.
Boraine, Andrew.1987. Mamelodi: from Parks to People's Power. Unpublished B.A. honours dissertation, University of Cape Town.
7.
Botha, Thozamile.1992. "Civic Associations as Autonomous Organs of Grassroots' Participation." Theoria (May): 1-28.
8.
Bremner, Lindsay.1994. "Development and Resistance: Lessons for the Planners of Phola Park." Urban Forum5(1): 23-44.
9.
Carter, Charles.1991. Comrades and Community: Politics and the Construction of Hegemony in Alexandra Township, South Africa, 1984-1987. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Oxford University.
10.
Centre for Development Studies/African National Congress (CDS/ANC).1990. Report on the ANC National Consultative Conference on Local Government, Johannesburg, October 1990. Cape Town: Centre for Development Studies .
11.
Charney, Craig.1995. "Voices of a New Democracy: African Expectations in the New South Africa." Centre for Policy Studies, Johannesburg, Research Report No. 38 (January).
12.
Christianson, David and Sotu Ndukwana.1994. "The Future of the Civics." Development andDemocracy8 (November): 38-49.
13.
Cohen, Jean and Andrew Arato.1992. Civil Society and Political Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
14.
Collinge, Jo-Anne.1991. "Civics: Local Government From Below." Work in Progress74 (May): 8-11.
15.
Crankshaw, Owen. Forthcoming. "Social Differentiation, Conflict and Development in a South African Township" Urban Forum.
16.
Dalton, Russell and Manfred Kuechler, eds. 1990. Challenging the Political Order: New Social and Political Movements in Western Democracies. Cambridge: Polity.
17.
Foweraker, Joe.1990. "Popular Movements and Political Change in Mexico." Pp. 3-20 in J. Foweraker and A. Craig, eds., Popular Movements and Political Change in Mexico. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
18.
Foweraker, Joe and Ann Craig.1990. Popular Movements and Political Change in Mexico . Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
19.
Friedman, Steven.1991. "Soweto: Managing the Transition." Politikon18(1): 97-111.
20.
. 1993. "The Elusive 'Community': The Dynamics of Negotiated Urban Development" Centre for Policy Studies Research Report No. 28 (February).
21.
Glaser, Daryl.1991. "Discourses of Democracy in the South African Left: A Critical Commentary." Pp. 93-121 in R. Cohen and H. Goulbourne, eds., Democracy and Socialism in Africa. Boulder: Westview.
22.
. 1995. "Civil Society and its Limits: The Case of South Africa " Unpublished paper.
23.
Gumede, William-Mervin.1996. "Civics at the Crossroads." Democracy in Action10(5): 16-17.
24.
Heymans, Chris.1993. "Towards People's Development? Civic Associations and Development in South Africa." Urban Forum4(1): 1-20.
25.
Kiss, Elizabeth.1992. "Democracy without Parties?" Dissent (Spring): 226-231.
26.
Lanegran, Kim.1995a. "South Africa's Civic Association Movement: ANC's Ally or Society's 'Watchdog'? Shifting Social Movement-Political Party Relations ." African Studies Review38(2): 101-126.
27.
. 1995b. "The Participation of Township-based Civic Movements in Transitional Local Government Structures in South Africa: The Death of a Social Movement?." Paper presented at the 38th annual meeting of the African Studies Association. Orlando, FL (November).
28.
_______. 1996. "Civic Associations in Transitional Local Government Structures in South Africa." Critical Sociology22(3):113-134.
29.
Lodge, Tom.1992. "The African National Congress in the 1990s" Pp. 44-78 in Glenn Moss and Ingrid Obery, eds., South African Review 6. Johannesburg: Ravan.
30.
Mayekiso, Mzwanele.1992a. "Working Class Civil Society: Why We Need It, and How We Get It." African Communist (2nd quarter): 33-40.
31.
. 1992b. "Hands off the Civics and Civil Society" Work In Progress81 (April): 21.
32.
. 1992c. "Civil Society and Local Government Negotiations: The Alexandra Experience." Urban Forum3(2): 141-150.
33.
. 1993. "The Legacy of 'Ungovernability.' " South African Review of Books (November/December): 24-27.
34.
Murray, Martin.1994. The Revolution Deferred: The Painful Birth of Post-Apartheid South Africa. London: Verso.
35.
Nzimande, Blade and Mpume Sikhosana .1991. "Civics are Part of the National Democratic Revolution" Mayibuye (June): 37-39.
36.
. 1992. "Civil Society and Democracy." African Communist (1st quarter): 37-51.
37.
Rantete, Johannes.1994. Facing the Challenges of Transition: A Critical Analysis of the African National Congress in the 1990s. Unpublished M.A. thesis , University of the Witwatersrand.
38.
Roberts, Kenneth.1995. "From the Barricades to the Ballot Box: Redemocratization and Political Realignment in the Chilean Left." Politics and Society23(4): 495-519.
39.
Seekings, Jeremy.1990. Quiescence and the Transition to Confrontation: South African Townships, 1978-1984. Unpublished D.Phil. thesis, Oxford University.
40.
. 1992 . "Civic organisations in South African townships" Pp. 216-238 in Glenn Moss and Ingrid Obery (eds). South African Review 6. Johannesburg: SARS/Ravan.
41.
. 1993 . "The UDF and the Development of People's Power" Unpublished paper.
42.
_______. 1994. "The Dissolution of the United Democratic Front, 1990-1991 " Paper presented at the Societies of Southern Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries Seminar, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London (January).
43.
. 1996 . "South Africa's First Democratic Local Elections: The Case of the Western Cape, 1995-96" Unpublished paper.
44.
Seekings, Jeremy, Khehla Shubane, and David Simon.1993. An Evaluation of the European Community / Kagiso Trust Civic and Advice Centre Programme. Johannesburg: Kagiso Trust.
45.
Shubane, Khehla.1991. "Civil Society in South Africa." Journal of Democracy2(3): 53-55.
46.
Soggot, Mungo.1996. "Sanco Swaps Stones for Shares." Mail and Guardian (11-17 October): 13.
47.
South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).1994/95. Race Relations Survey 1994/95. Johannesburg: SAIRR.
48.
South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO).1994. Making People-Driven Development Work. Report of the Commission on Development Finance formed by SANCO .
49.
Staniszkis, J.1984. Poland's Self-Limiting Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
50.
Steinberg, Jonny.1993. "A Place for Civics in a Liberal Democratic Polity? A Case-Study of the Atteridgeville-Saulsville Residents Organisation." Paper presented to the Project for a Civil Society Conference . Cape Town (February).
51.
Swilling, Mark. 1992. "Socialism, Democracy and Civil Society: The Case for Associational Socialism." Theoria79 (May): 75-82.
52.
Swilling, Mark and Khehla Shubane.1991. "Negotiating Urban Transition: The Soweto Experience." Pp. 223-258 in Robin Lee and Lawrence Schlemmer, eds., Transition to Democracy: Policy Perspectives 1991. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
53.
United Democratic Front (UDF).1987. "Towards a People's Democracy: The UDF View." Review of African Political Economy40 (December): 81-87.
54.
Walzer, Michael.1991. "The Idea of Civil Society." Dissent (Spring).
