South Africa's single-party state sputtering

ARTICLE: "A future of division, factionalism, stagnation and patronage: The African National Congress under Jacob Zuma shows signs of losing its way," The Economist, 9 August 2008, p. 43.

The sanctification of the ANC always amuses me. It was a lead character in my PhD diss regarding Soviet bloc security aid to national liberation movements. Hey, when you actually turn Ho Chi Minh in time, you congratulate yourself.

The ANC basically runs South Africa as a single-party state, and it shows.

No one wants to toss them out of the Core, though, and that's reasonable, because the South Africans are natural economic integrators in southern Africa.

Plus, most "new" states start off in this manner, much like the U.S. itself for about ... six decades.

Comments

[daskro]

Not unlike the much demonized Pinochet ruled Chile, the Apartheid government, despite being repressive and institutionally racist created a prosperous and technologically advanced african state. This was often in spite of sanctions and lack of substantial material support from the west. It's woefully ironic that the idealistic push towards democratization and reconciliation of Rhodesia and South Africa has transformed one from the breadbasket of Africa into agricultural wasteland and the other from the economic and military powerhouse of Southern Africa into a shell of its former self. The sad and sordid events of these countries highlight the perils of populism and democratization for the sake of populism and democratization.