A Democratic South Africa?

A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society explores the formidable challenges of building a democratic system in a society as racially and ethnically divided as South Africa. The book underscores the complexity of crafting institutions and processes that can foster inclusivity and stability in a deeply polarized setting. South Africa's history of apartheid has left a legacy of distrust and ideological division, with extreme political forces at both ends of the spectrum threatening the democratic experiment. The author addresses critical questions of constitutional design, minority rights protection, and electoral systems, emphasizing the necessity of innovative solutions to counter conflict and promote intergroup cooperation.

The study situates South Africa's democratization within a broader comparative context, highlighting its potential as a case study for other divided societies. It examines how democratic processes can transform relationships among political actors, even in unpromising conditions. By focusing on the interplay between constitutional processes and institutional design, the book offers insights into how participation, negotiation, and decision-making shape democratic outcomes. Ultimately, it presents South Africa as a quintessential challenge to democratic conflict management, where success could provide valuable lessons for fostering democracy in similarly fragmented contexts.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1991.