Social Science Theory, Development Management and the Local State in South Africa: A Preliminary Survey of Issues.

South Africa is in a state of transition. In viewing the struggle between apartheid's defenders and its opponents, social scientists can make the valuable contribution of projecting alternative scenarios of change as it relates to the way in which state institutions intersect with society. This paper is part of a larger study of South Africa that examined the relationship between state policy and social science influences and contending theories of political change and control. Contemporary themes in South African politics are briefly outlined, and the importance of newly introduced political and administrative structures is emphasized. It is a major thesis of the paper that the impact of these new structures, supported by social science theory, may both contribute to the dismantling of apartheid and define the developmental strategies adopted by a majority rule government. The paper suggests that there have been four separate social science ideologies that have defined the policy debate in South Africa since 1948: (1) modernization theory; (2) dependency theory; (3) corporatism; and (4) the concept of internal colonialism as exemplified by South Africa's "homelands" system. Each of these is discussed with a particular focus on how the specific theory has been used to promote and attack racially based political structures and public policy in South Africa. (DB)