Masters Degrees (Political Science)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7216

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The dialectics of emancipation: a critical exegesis of the work of Jurgen Habermas.
(1977) Harley, Athol Lee.; De Kadt, Raphael.
Abstract available in PDF.
Aspects of land and labour in Kenya, 1919-1939.
(1980) Lind Holmes, S. M.; Lumby, Anthony Bernard.
No abstract available.
Die kapitalisme en sosialisme in die lig van die werklikheid in Swart-Afrika met besondere verwysing na die Afrika-gebonde staatsfilosofie van kontemporere Tanzanië.
(1980) Du Plessis, Ignatius Michael Max.; Rauche, Gerhard A.
Sedert die Tweede W!reldoorlog is daar buiten en behalwe die talle artikels en boeke van Nyerere en ander voorstanders van die Afrikasosialisme veel gepubliseer oor die vooruitsigte van die kapitalisme sowel as die kommunisme in Swart-Afrika. Die algemene indruk wat deur hierdie geskrifte geskep word, is dat nog die Westerse sosialisme, nog die doktrinere Leninistiese Marxisme, nog die kapitalisme, onveranderd op die konkrete toestande in Swart-Afrika toegepas kan word. Tot vandag toe is hierdie kontinent besonders eiesoortig, 5005 Scipio Africanus reeds ingesien het, toe hy beweer het dat daar altyd weer iets nuuts uit Afrika verwag kan word ("Ex Africa semper aliquid novit"). In hulle strewe om getrou aan hulleself te wees en teen die hele wereld vry te bly, word die Afrikane deur enkele beslissende faktore in 'n sterk posisie gehou. Eerstens is daar fisieke faktore, 5005 hulle huidskleur en tiperende gelaatstrekke wat die Afrikane van die meeste ander volkere op aarde onderskei en hulle help om van hulle eiesoortigheid bewus te bly. Verder en bowenal is dit die besondere aardrykskundige omstandighede van Afrika wat sy inboorlinge aanmoedig om hulle tradisionele lewenswyse wat hierby aangepas is nie maklik prys te gee nie. Sedert hulle die koloniale juk gedurende die afgelope kwarteeu afgeskud het, het hulle by die Verenigde Volkere -Organisasie en elders al hoe uitdrukliker opgeval as mense wat eiesourtig doen, dink en voel. Die Afrika-persoonlikheid kom besonder duidelik tot uitdrukking in die wyse waarop die Afrikane die kommunisme en die kapitalisme teen mekaar uitgespeel en van albei en almal wat in hulle belang stel deeglik gebruik maak. Dit is veral na aanleiding van hierdie opvallende selfgeldingsdrang dat die onderhawige verhandeling tot stand gekom het onder die titel: "Die Kapitalisme en Sosialisme in die Lig van die Werklikheid in Swart-Afrika, met besondere verwysing na die Afrika-gebonde Staatsfilosofie van kontemporere Tanzanie.
The Politics of revolution : some problems in the strategy of socialist transformation.
(1988) Greaves, Duncan Bruce.; De Kadt, Raphael.
Theories of the transition to socialism typically invoke, in one way or another, the notion of revolution. This dissertation is a discussion and analysis, largely conceptual in character, of the political dimensions of this notion. More exactly, it is a discussion of some principal Marxian accounts of revolution. In Part I the theoretical foundations of this account are explored by way of a methodological introduction (invoking the construct of essential contestedness). In Part 2 the contours of this account are sketched, and subjected to some (largely internal) analysis. The focus here is on Marx and the dominant figures in the political tradition to which his work gave rise, namely Lenin, Kautsky, Luxemburg and Gramsci. In Part 3 this distinctively Marxian account is subjected to a critique on two lines: the first line concerns the validity of its account of class, and the second the plausibility of its model of collective action. In both cases the Marxian account is found to be inadequate. Since the very heart of this account is a notion of purposive class action, the Marxian theory of revolution is thus called into serious question.
Durban's industrialisation and the life and labour of black workers 1920-1950.
(1989) Kelly, Joseph.; Freund, William Mark.
Abstract not available.
A critical analysis of Manuel Castell's urban political theory.
(1991) Howarth, David Robert.; Lawrence, Ralph Bruce.
Abstract available in PDF.
Local politics : a conceptual exploration.
(1991) Wittenberg, Martin Werner.; Irvine, Douglas.
Abstract available in PDF.
The influence of Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha on Martin Luther King Jr.
(1991) Singh, Kameldevi.; Greyling, C. J. A.
No abstract available.
Youth in urban African townships, 1945-1992 : a case study of the East London townships.
(1993) Ntsebeza, Lungisile.; Freund, William Mark.
In this study an attempt is made to trace and analyse the changing nature of African youth in urban areas, with particular reference to the East London locations. The period covered is the period from the 1940s to the end of 1992. In common wisdom, an impression is often created that African youth is a homogeneous grouping. This has been particularly the case in the 1980s, when the youth of this country took to the streets and challenged the status quo in a manner unknown in South Africa's recorded history. However, the main conclusion of this study is that the African youth is not homogeneous, and has never been during the period under review. It is argued in the study that the youth divides into various categories which at times interact with one another, but are at times antagonistic to each other. It has been stressed though, that the various categories have not remained the same. Almost all underwent various changes and transformations. Some of the changes and transformations were radical, leading to the disappearance of some categories, for example, the old distinction of 'school' and 'red' youth. Where such took place, new categories have emerged, even in instances where the intentions were to bring the various categories under the roof of a single category, for example, bringing various categories under the wing of the political youth, or comrade (qabane), as was the case in the 1980s. In tracing the changing nature of African youth in urban areas, the underlying argument has been that there is no evidence of a single youth culture ever prevailing for long. This study attempts to explain why such a culture was not possible. Only a grasp of historical process will, moreover, help to explain the changing youth scene.
Numbering the dead: the course and pattern of political violence in the Natal Midlands: 1987-1989.
(1993) Aitchison, John Jacques William.
Abstract available in PDF.
Public policy and the informal sector in South Africa: the politics of street-trading in Pietermaritzburg as an illustrative case.
(1994) Mosdell, Timothy Scott.; Lawrence, Ralph Bruce.
Abstract available in PDF.
A critical evaluation of change and continuity in South Africa's foreign policy in the eras of P.W. Botha and F.W. De Klerk, 1978-1991.
(1994) Solomon, Hussein.; Suransky, Leonard.
No abstract available.
The whole is the false: an analysis of censorship in South Africa with particular reference to the Publications Act and its predecessors.
(1994) Stewart, Peter MacDonald.; Antonie, Francis.
Abstract available in PDF.
Reporting violent conflict in Kwazulu-Natal: an assessment of selected sources for conflict research.
(1995) Louw, Antoinette.; Frost, Mervyn L.
The main aim of this study was to investigate which factors are likely to affect the probability that events of violent collective action are reported by the press in KwaZulu-Natal. The study hypothesised that the likelihood of violent conflict events being reported by the press is affected by certain characteristics of the events themselves, such as their intensity and size, and by the environment in which events occur, such as their physicai location and the prevailing political context. The study was limited to the KwaZulu-Natal province where levels of violent collective action have been the highest in the country over the past decade. This province is also home to many violence monitoring agencies, which constituted an important alternative source of information against which the reporting trends of the newspapers in the province could be compared. The main source of information used in this study was the Conflict Trends in KwaZulu-Natal project's database of collective action events, which comprises events reported by both the press and the monitoring agencies. Data on a total of 3990 violent conflict events was analysed during 1987, 1990 and 1994, in the form of comparisons between the reporting tendencies of the press and the monitors. Interviews were also conducted with reporters and editors of the daily newspapers in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as with selected monitoring agency staff members. These interviews provided valuable information about how these media operate, and the factors which constrain their violence reporting activities. The most support was found for the argument that the political context influences violence reporting by the press. Analyses suggested that in all three years studied, the press contribution to the database decreased as monthly levels of violent conflict increased. This was explained in relation to the prevailing political context. The results also showed that reporting trends changed over time. In the earlier years, the press did not appear to be more inclined to report events of larger size and intensity, or events which were close to the newspapers' base. In 1994, however, this trend was reversed. There also was no clear evidence that the States of Emergency impacted negatively on press reporting of violence in terms of the variables studied. In addition, the study concluded that both the press and the monitOring agencies had made important separate contributions to the database on violent collective action. It is, therefore, vital that systematic studies of violent conflict in KwaZulu-Natal make use of multiple sources of data.
Conservation, sustainable development and ecotourism in South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal : a policy-analysis.
(1995) Slembrouck, Anne Sylvie.; Lawrence, Ralph Bruce.
Abstract available in PDF.
Human and non-human flows as a threat to the security of a democratic South Africa.
(1996) Mzaliya, Jabulani.; Hudson, Heidi.; Daniel, John.
Abstract not available.
Educating adolescents about AIDS : a policy analysis of AIDS education programmes in KwaZulu-Natal high schools.
(1996) Jack, Margaret.; Lawrence, Ralph Bruce.
This thesis is concerned with an evaluation of AIDS education in KwaZulu-Natal schools. Although HIV and AIDS affect all segments of the population and all age groups, prevention efforts aimed at the youth may be the most effective. HIV/AIDS is a disease most prevalent in the fifteen to thirty-five age group, and if we can decrease rates of transmission in people under twenty, we will save much money, pain and suffering in the next ten years. It is often seen as prudent to save young generations, rather than older ones, and this may be especially true in the case of HIV/AIDS, where HIV/AIDS in the younger, reproductive age groups leads to the very youngest group, that it, babies, being born HIV-positive. In addition, the younger generation may be more easy to save: they have not yet formed unsafe sexual practices, and educating them before they develop habits is easier than changing habits of the older generation. I assessed various education departments' AIDS education programmes, based on the criteria of how well pupils are assisted in changing their unsafe sexual practices, or, if they are not yet sexually active, their attitudes towards sex, and on what type of message and ideal is presented about sexuality and sexual activity. Judged by my framework, I found the existent programmes to be lacking. But this act of assessment allowed for a more thorough evaluation of AIDS education in the region to emerge, and from this, recommendations for AIDS prevention programmes to be developed: AIDS education must occur in the context of more general skills development, skills in negotiating sexuality and sexual relationships, and skills for the negotiation of life in the late twentieth century. Innovative developments in the region, regarding AIDS and sexuality education teacher training, and the development of minimum criteria by which to set up and judge programmes, could be used as the basis for a sound AIDS education programme.
The role of tribal authorities in a democratic KwaZulu-Natal.
(1996) Amtaika, Alexius Lambat.; Lawrence, Ralph Bruce.
This thesis attempts to define the role of tribal authorities in the structures of the democratic government in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. However, the major difficulty lies in the nature of the institution of tribal authorities itself. In African tradition, leadership is hereditary. It is not subject to any electoral process. Besides this, the hereditary process is fundamentally male primogeniture and by nature excludes women. This contradicts the principles of democracy and the bill of rights which the democratic government of South Africa has adopted. Nevertheless, the institution of tribal authorities is not new in South Africa. It has existed and worked hand in hand with previous governments in South Africa since the period of the British colonial rule in the early 19th century. During the apartheid era, tribal authorities served as the local government in the rural areas of the KwaZulu Bantustan. Chiefs only lost this status after the formation of the Government of National Unity in 1994. However, most chiefs still have great influence and respect among the traditional people who live in rural areas. Besides this, among the Zulus, the institution of tribal authorities symbolizes Zulu nationalism and culture. Because of their closeness to the people at the grassroots, chiefs have good relationships with different political parties, particularly the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress. Probably they are seen by these political parties as potential allies and agents for political mobilization and recruitment in rural tribal areas. Consequently, abandoning the institution of tribal authorities in the democratic dispensation is unrealistic and irresponsible. To meet the political realities of KwaZulu-Natal, a certain form of representation in the structures of democratic government at both the provincial and local levels needs to be given to the institution of tribal authorities as part of the democratization process, and also as a means of expanding the scope of democracy in rural areas. This also fulfils one of the precepts of democracy which entails including all the concerned groups of people in a society, irrespective of colour, creed, sex, race, tradition and culture. Nevertheless, to achieve this, some adjustment is necessary to make possible the incorporation of the institution of tribal authorities in the structures of the democratic government. How can this institution be accommodated? What will the status and position of chiefs be in these structures? What will be their new role? How well can democratically elected structures work with non-elected ones? Is the inclusion of tribal authorities in the democratic government not going to conceptualize ethnicity? In other words, does ethnicity have any room in South Africa's democratic dispensation? To address these questions, this thesis assesses a number of aspects, which include examining the role chiefs played in the previous government, their relationships with the people, the Bantustan government and Inkatha Yenkululeko Yesizwe, and other political parties especially in the democratic dispensation. The thesis also examines legislation passed by the Government of National Unity, as well as the constitutional proposals of the Inkatha Freedom Party, the African National Congress and other political parties in the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal concerning the role of tribal authorities.
Democracy, ideology and the construction of meaning in the electronic age : a critical analysis of the political implications of electronic means of communication.
(1997) Osborn, Peter Andrew.; De Kadt, Raphael.
Set against the background of public life and political practice in late capitalist mass democracies, this study presents information and communication structures as central to the formation of discursive opinion and the negotiation of social identities. Discussion and processes of exchange, that is, are conceived to be crucial to politics in the full democratic sense (as the pursuit and realization of human emancipation) . Taking the mass media to be the central institutions and a primary locus of power in the contemporary public sphere, this study seeks to explore both their semiotic, discursive natures, and the material, institutional context in which they are embedded. The concern to theorize the impact of the mass media on the public sphere 's internal processes of social, cultural and political discourse and therefore on individual and social orientation and action - is essentially a concern to come to terms with the operations of ideology and power in industrial capitalist democracies . The overall context of social communication is changing, and with it the ideological codes of power. It is therefore imperative to arrive at some understanding of the dynamics of signifying processes, the ways in which the culturally specific rhetorical lenses of the media filter and alter the wider framework of social understandings, and the possibilities for generating new social, cultural and political discourses critical of the mystifications of power. Chapter One discusses Habermas's analytical and historical account of the development of bourgeois forms of social criticism in England, France and Germany during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and their effacement in the nineteeth and twentieth centuries by the forces of mass culture and industrial capitalism . Chapter Two then proceeds to address several theoretical problems and methodological flaws in Habermas formulation. Of particular concern are his understanding of the role of the media in shaping cultural criticism, and his conceptualization of the process of communication, in which the audience is cast as passive. A critical interrogation and reconstruction of Habermas category of the public sphere to suit the changing environment of public communication is therefore called for. Chapter Three engages the pessimistic, cynical and apolitical epistemological stance of postmodernism, and rejects its unwillingness to engage in a critical hermeneutics of the structure and dynamics of ideology and power in contemporary society. Chapter Four presents Gramsci's and Althusser's reformulations of Marx's notion of ideology, points out some theoretical deficiencies in their arguments, and suggests why a semiotic understanding of the relation between meaning and reality would be of value to a theory of ideology. Chapter Five focuses on structuralist and semiotic approaches to language and society, and their understandings of the process of signification. Here the work of Saussure, Levi-Strauss and Barthes are seminal, though they are presented as not being entirely satisfactory. Voloshinov 's alternative "social semiotics" is introduced as a more appropriate conceptual framework , taking cognizance as it does of both the dynamic and (necessarily) contested nature of ideology, and the importance of the material and social elements in the signifying process. Chapter Three engages the pessimistic, cynical and apolitical epistemological stance of postmodernism, and rejects its unwillingness to engage in a critical hermeneutics of the structure and dynamics of ideology and power in contemporary society. Chapter Four presents Gramsci's and Althusser's reformulations of Marx's notion of ideology, points out some theoretical deficiencies in their arguments, and suggests why a semiotic understanding of the relation between meaning and reality would be of value to a theory of ideology. Chapter Five focuses on structuralist and semiotic approaches to language and society, and their understandings of the process of signification. Here the work of Saussure, Levi-Strauss and Barthes are seminal, though they are presented as not being entirely satisfactory. Voloshinov 's alternative "social semiotics" is introduced as a more appropriate conceptual framework , taking cognizance as it does of both the dynamic and (necessarily) contested nature of ideology, and the importance of the material and social elements in the signifying process.Chapter Six explores the political economy of late capitalism and demonstrates the need to balance semiology's textualist approach to meaning construction with an understanding of the relevance of the wider institutional context. Notwithstanding the inherent polysemy of media texts and the active role of audiences in the construction of sense and identity, this chapter argues that the character and quality of the discursive relations of advanced capitalist societies are profoundly shaped by the dynamics and principles of industrialization, commercialization, commodification and profit realization . This mediating institutional context of social communication must be taken into account by those concerned to demystify the discourses of power and their implicit agendas. Chapter Six then proceeds to address the democratic potential of new information and communication technologies. The background for this cautionary discussion is the technologization of human culture , as well as certain depoliticizing trends within the infrastructure of so-called "Information Society ", such as the growing prevalence of market principles and the increasing demands of "corporate imperatives". The chapter ends with a brief discussion of Tim Luke's argument that the participatory nature of new technologies can be exploited by counter-hegemonic groups seeking to broaden the scope of public communication in order to build a firebreak against the further colonization of the lifeworld by capital and the State. The study concludes by arguing that despite observable tendencies towards the privatization of information and the centralization of meaning, ideology remains everpresent in modern industrialized countries, and is always open to contestation. It further suggests that the ability of audiences to actively decode ideological cultural forms according to their own interests and lived experiences, together with the potential of new technologies to circulate these alternative and often counter-hegemonic meanings augurs well for democratic practice. For not only is it possible to expose and challenge the dynamics of power, but it is also increasingly possible for audiences to contribute to the agenda of political discussion, and thereby lend substance and credibility to the discursive formations of the (much maligned) contemporary public sphere.
The decline of Zulu nationalism as a defining feature of IFP policy, 1994-1997.
(1998) Hampton, Kerri-Ann.
This thesis provides an analysis of changes apparent in the ideology and style of the Inkatha Freedom Party'si politics since April 1994. The IFP's first three years in power under the new dispensation, as a member of the Government of National Unity and the majority party in KwaZulu-Natal, have witnessed a significant shift away from the militant Zulu nationalism and confrontational tactics that characterised the party from the mid-1980s. Zulu nationalism has been abandoned in favour of a broader appeal, while the brinkmanship employed during negotiations in the early 1990s, the walkouts and threats of violent resistance, have been largely absent in the post-election period. Confrontation since 1994, and especially since 1996, has gradually given way to more accommodatory and cooperative relations with the political opposition, on both the national and provincial levels of government. To understand why this shift has occurred, it is necessary to examine the nature of Zulu nationalism as espoused by Inkatha. It is my assertion that Inkatha employed Zulu nationalism in an attempt to preserve its institutionalised power base in the KwaZulu-Natal region and exercise a voice on the national level. Nationalist rhetoric became increasingly prevalent as violence escalated in the late 1980s, and peaked in the uncertainty of the political transition as the IFP faced marginalisation on South Africa's emerging politicalstage. Zulu nationalism acted as the rallying call for party faithful to resist the challenge of the United Democratic Front!African National Congress in the 1980s, and provided justification for Inkatha's confrontational approach and demands for Zulu self-determination in the early 1990s. Indeed, Inkatha's brand of Zulu nationalism has always been about 1 advancing the party interest, rather than defending the integrity of the divided and warring ,J Zulu people. It is in this light that the post-1994 shift in ideological emphasis must be understood. The April 1994 general election ushered in a new era in South African politics, in which the IFP found its role radically altered. From playing the part of spoiler on the outskirts of formal political structures it now had to adjust to its status as the majority party in the provincial legislature, with Buthelezi in a prominent role in the national cabinet. Under these conditions, the party's interests were advanced by the establishment of a smootWy run provincial administration, under which its regional power could be consolidated. Thus, the new political order created a space for the IFP within the democratic system in which its credibility rested on its ability to govern the province effectively. Further, under these conditions, confrontation was not only less attractive as a means of achieving party objectives, it was also less effective and feasible. This the IFP learnt the hard way, in terms of its disastrous constitution-making experience. Its boycott of negotiations at the national level merely served to deprive the IFP of a role in drawing up the country's final constitution, while a belligerent approach at the provincial level prevented the realisation of a compromise agreement. The IFP was forced to accept that its majority in the provincial legislature was insufficient to allow it to rule unilaterally in the province. The loss of therKing's political allegiance, coupled with election results which revealed strong support for the ANC among urban Zulus while the IFP's support was largely confined to traditionalist rural communities, undermined the party's claims to represent the Zulu nation. Furthermore, the gradual return of law and order in the province diminished the IFP's capacity to resort to militarism, thus taking some of the bite out of a confrontational strategy. In brief, the IFP was both pulled and pushed into the new order, and hence to some extent, a new ideology and political style. By 1996 the Zulu nationalism and belligerence that had characterised the party since the mid-1980s had been replaced with a liberal-conservative platform that sought resonance with the urban electorate, coupled with efforts to improve cooperative relations with the political opposition in the interests of provincial stability.

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