South Africa’s Political Crisis [electronic resource] : Unfinished Liberation and Fractured Class Struggles /
Beresford, Alexander.author.
South Africa's current political upheavals are the most significant since the transition from apartheid. Its powerful trade unions are playing a central role, and the political direction they take will have huge significance for how we understand the role of labour movements in struggles for social justice in the twenty-first century.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; South Africa's Political Crisis; Contents; Acknowledgements; 1 Liberation's Dream Deferred; A dream deferred: the transition to democracy; The awkward embrace of neoliberalism; Towards a post-nationalist era?; A brief history of the Alliance; The implicit ideological compromise of the Alliance; Whither the Alliance?; Summary of the argument; Unpacking the NUMSA moment; Organisational dilemmas and the great transition from below; Exhausted or regenerative nationalism?; 2 Blurred Ideological Fault Lines; Responses to the NDP; Responses to the militant strike wave
The Marikana massacre: the final straw?Ideological blurring and the nationalist- populist backlash; Conclusion: fragmented labour struggles and defensive nationalism; 3 Internecine Factionalism; The interpenetration of union and ANC political struggles; Patronage politics in the unions?; Coups, purges and fractures; Violence; Corruption allegations; Sexual misconduct allegations; The blurred lines of patronage politics; Conclusion: a labour movement at war with itself; 4 Class Formation and the Politics of Social Mobility; Class formation and the mobility divide
Competing class interests within union structuresThe double-edged sword of upward mobility: the positive side; The double-edged sword of upward mobility: the negative side; Conclusion: understanding the 'transition from below'; 5 Union Democracy, Social Mobility and Stifled Militancy; Democracy at the grass roots?; Social mobility as a source of union decline?; The loss of a collective mobilising identity; Conclusion: mobilise or gradually wilt; 6 Exhausted or Regenerative Nationalism?; The symbolic political capital of ANC nationalism; The limits of symbolic political capital
The broad reach of nationalismWorkers' relationships with the post-apartheid state: workers' rights; Workers' relationships with the post-apartheid state: service delivery; Workers' relationships with the post-apartheid state: social welfare; No ordinary party; Conclusion; 7 Conclusion: Fractured Labour Struggles and the Unfinished Project of Liberation; Notes; 4 Class Formation and the Politics of Social Mobility; 5 Union Democracy, Social Mobility and Stifled Militancy; 6 Exhausted or Regenerative Nationalism?; Bibliography; Index
Includes bibliographical references and index.
South Africa's current political upheavals are the most significant since the transition from apartheid. Its powerful trade unions are playing a central role, and the political direction they take will have huge significance for how we understand the role of labour movements in struggles for social justice in the twenty-first century.
Ethnology—Africa.
Africa—Politics and government.
Political sociology.
Democracy.
Political economy.
Political science.
African Culture.
African Politics.
Political Sociology.
Democracy.
International Political Economy.
Political Science.