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From liberation movement to party machine? The ANC in South Africa.
- Source :
- Journal of Contemporary African Studies; Jul2014, Vol. 32 Issue 3, p331-348, 18p
- Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- This article contributes to a growing literature on the character of leadership, democracy and governance espoused by post-liberation governments, focusing on the African National Congress (ANC) as a political party. The article provides a brief overview of the two most common approaches to analysing the ANC's transition from a national liberation movement to a political party in an electoral democracy, the dominant party approach and what is termed the Fanonesque perspective. Neither is found to be wholly satisfactory, for largely the same reason – their tendency to present what is effectively a caricature of the ANC, by selectively highlighting features of its practices that conform to a pre-determined pathology, rather than acknowledging the ANC's complexity, variability and essentially contested nature. In developing an alternative approach, the paper draws from an earlier body of literature on single-party–dominant states in post-independent Africa that was empirically driven and comparative in nature. Such an approach can help us develop a more realistic, less sensationalist interpretation of ANC rule in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02589001
- Volume :
- 32
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Contemporary African Studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 98775116
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2014.956500