Dr. Mike Williams

INTL 190: Politics in South Africa (Tuesday 6-8:50 pm)

Winter 2006

York 3050B

Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30-6:00 pm or by appointment

Email:

Phone: 619-260-4012

Website:

Politics in South Africa

Course Description

This senior seminar is designed to examine the major issues and challenges facing South Africa today. The goal of the course is to introduce students to contemporary South African politics and to situate the current political challenges into the broader historical context. The central theme of the seminar is to analyze the processes of democratic consolidation, state building and nation building since the end of apartheid in 1994. After a brief review of colonialism and apartheid rule, the course focuses on the transition to democracy and the design of political institutions. It then examines some of the crucial issues facing ordinary South Africans, such as, the development of a dominant party system, economic and development policy choices, racial and ethnic conflict and reconciliation, HIV/AIDS policy, as well as local government and land reform policies.

Course Requirements

Seminar Participation, Attendance, and Research Paper Report

Your weekly participation and attendance are two of the most important features of this course and accounts for 25% of your grade. You will be expected to come to each seminar prepared to discuss the readings. In addition, each student will be responsible for leading one seminar discussion and each student will present their research paper at the end of the quarter. More than one unexcused absence will adversely affect your attendance grade.

  • Research Paper

The research paper is the only written assignment for the seminar and it will account for 75% of your grade. Papers should be 20-22 pages in length (double-spaced, 12-point font, and one-inch margins), not including bibliography and endnotes. You will be able to choose any topic related to contemporary South African politics. We will discuss different types of research questions at the beginning of the quarter and you will give me your paper topics on January 31. You should try to discuss different topics with me during my office hours or over email before this due date. A paper outline and list of possible sources will be due on February 21 and the paper itself will be due on March 21 no later than 4 pm at the International Studies Program Office.

  • Keeping Informed

If you would like to keep up on South African news, I would suggest the following news organizations on the web: The Mail and Guardian ( Independent ( Africa Online ( Africa ( Economist ( TheNew York Times ( Washington Post ( The Los Angeles Times (

I have established a web page for this course that contains links to many interesting sites related to comparative politics and individual country histories. You can find it at:

Grading

Participation and Attendance25%

Research Paper 75%

Academic Integrity

I expect you to comply fully with the standards of academic integrity set forth by the University of California at San Diego. Any incident of academic dishonesty (as defined in the University rules) will be punished to the full extent allowed by the University.

Required Booksand Other Materials

  • Tom Lodge (2002). Politics in South Africa from Mandela to Mbeki. IndianaUniversity Press
  • Nancy L. Clark and William H. Worger (2004). South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Pearson Longmann Press [C&W]
  • Allister Sparks (1995). Tomorrow is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa’s Road to Change. University of Chicago Press
  • Andre Brink (1979). A Dry White Season. Penguin Books
  • Various Articles on Electronic Reserve [ER]

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

January 10:NO CLASS

January 17:Colonialism and Apartheid Rule

  • Clark & Worger (C&W) – Chapters 1-4
  • Brink - Dry White Season [entire]
  • Hermann Giliomee, “The National Party and the Afrikaner Broederbond”; Lawrence Schlemmer, “The Stirring Giant: Observations on Inkatha and Other Black Political Movements in South Africa”; Newell M. Stultz, “Some Implications of African ‘Homelands’ in South Africa”. From Robert M. Price and Carl G. Rosberg (eds). The Apartheid Regime: Political Power and Racial Domination (1980) [ER]

January 24:Regime Breakdown, Negotiations and Constitution

  • C&W – Chapter 5
  • Lodge – Prologue
  • Sparks – Tomorrow is Another Country [entire]

January 31:Political System and Elections and Electoral System

  • Lodge – Chapter 2
  • Arendt Lijphart, “South African Democracy: Majoritarianism or Consociational?” Democratization, vol. 5, no. 4, 144-50 (Winter 1998) [ER]
  • R.W. Johnson and Lawrence Schlemmer – “The 1994 Election: Outcome and Analysis” (pages 301-322) and “How Free? How Fair”. From Johnson and Schlemmer, Launching Democracy in South Africa (1996) [ER]
  • Andrew Reynolds – “The Results”. From Election ’99 South Africa: From Mandela to Mbeki (1999) [ER]
  • Gavin Davis, “Proportional Representation and Racial Campaigning in South Africa,” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, vol. 10, pages 297-324 (2004) [ER]
  • Robert Mattes and Roger Southall, “Popular Attitudes Toward the South African Electoral System,” Democratization, vol. 11, no. 1, pages 51-76 (Feb. 2004) [ER]
  • Research Topics Due

February 7:Party System

  • Lodge – Chapter 1 and 8
  • Roger Southall, “The Centralization and Fragmentation of South Africa’s Dominant Party System,” African Affairs, no. 97, number 389, pages 443-69 (1998) [ER]
  • Steven Friedman, “No Easy Stroll to Dominance: Party Dominance, Opposition and Civil Society in South Africa”. From Hermann Giliomee and Charles Simkins (eds). The Awkward Embrace: One Party Domination and Democracy (1999) [ER]
  • James Hamill, “The Elephant and the Mice: Election 2004 and the Future of Opposition Politics in South Africa,” The Round Table, vol. 93, no. 377, pages 691-708 [ER]

February 14:Identity Issues: Past and Present

  • Lodge – Chapter 9 and Chapter 11
  • Desmond Tutu, “The Prelude” and “Nuremberg or National Amnesia? A Third Way”. From No Future Without Forgiveness (1999) [ER]
  • Anand Singh, “The constitution, ethnicity and minority rights in post-apartheid South Africa,” South African Journal of Ethnology, 24(1), 17-25 (2001) [ER]
  • Laurence Piper, “Nationalism without a nation: the rise and fall of Zulu nationalism in South Africa’s transition to democracy, 1975-99,” Nations and Natrionalism, 8(1), 73-94 (2002) [ER]
  • Helga Dickow and Valerie Moller, “South Africa’s ‘Rainbow People’, National Pride and Optimism: A Trend Study,” Social Indicators Research 59(2), 175-203 (2002) [ER]

February 21:Economic, Poverty and Development Policies

  • Lodge – Chapter 3 and 10
  • Charles Simkins, “Income Inequality and Unemployment in South Africa: Facts, Causes, and Perspectives” [ER]
  • Julian May, “Growth, development, poverty, and inequality”; Julian May, Ingrid Woolard, and Stephen Klasen, “The nature and measurement of poverty and inequality”; Julian May, “Policy conclusions”. From Julian May (ed). Poverty and Inequality in South Africa: Meeting the Challenge (2000) [ER]
  • Judith Christine Streak, “The Gear legacy: did Gear fail or move South Africa forward in development?,” Development Southern Africa, vol. 21, no. 2 (June 2004) [ER]
  • Samantha Willan, “Briefing: Recent Changes in the South African Government’s HIV/AIDS Policy and Its Implementation,” African Affairs, 103, pages 109-117 (2004) [ER]
  • Steven Robins, “’Long Live Zackie, Long Live’: AIDS Activism, Science and Citizenship after Apartheid,” Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 30, number 3 (September 2004) [ER]
  • Research Paper Outline and List of Possible Sources Due

February 28:Local Government and Land Reform

  • Lodge – Chapters 4-6
  • J. Michael Williams, “Leading from behind: democratic consolidation and the chieftaincy in South Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies, 42(1), 113-136 (2004) [ER]
  • Mary Galvin and Adam Habib, “The Politics of Decentralization and Donor Funding in South Africa’s Rural Water Sector,” Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 29, number 4 (2003) [ER]
  • Ivor Chipkin, “’Functional’ and ‘Dysfunctional’ Communities: the Making of National Citizens,” Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 29, number 1 (2003) [ER]
  • Allison Goebel, “Is Zimbabwe the future of South Africa? The implications for land reform in Southern Africa,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, vol. 23(3) (Sep. 2005) [ER]
  • Marinda Weideman, “Who Shaped South Africa’s Land Reform Policy?,” Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 31(2) (Nov. 2004) [ER]

March 7:Research Paper Reports

March 14:Research Paper Reports

March 21:Research Papers Due (4 pm)