La democracia en Sudafrica

In: Revista española de ciencia política, Heft 28, S. 55-84

Abstract

The transition to democracy in South Africa carried with it an enormous emotional burden as well as an interesting challenge for the empirical application of political science. Emotional, because of the characteristics of the out-going authoritarian regime which was based on racial segregation and the political exclusion of the majority of the population. Emotional, also, due to the charisma and great civic example of someone who came to symbolize change. Nelson Mandela -27 years in prison- understood that the future of the country depended on the avoidance of any and all types of revenge on, or exclusion of, the once exclusive segment of the population. He also knew that it was necessary to design an institutional system that would allow for the harmonious coexistence of different ethnic groups in the country. And it was here that political science played a key role. Directly inspired by the work of Arend Lijphart, the South African transition was carried out according to an institutional design which was based, almost in its entirety, on the ideal paradigm of "democracy by consensus". This ideal was formulated by the Dutch political scientist in his seminal work Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries. This article is part of a larger work in which I study why and how the South African political system changed from an exclusive one to a democratic one, what kind of democracy it is and how the South African democracy is moving forward. First. I will provide a brief summary of the causes of the South African transition and how it was carried out. Later I will analyze the institutional mechanisms developed to make viable the multi-ethnic coexistence in what, as a result of the transition. had ceased to be a system of racial segregation. In the third part I will discuss some aspects of electoral processes since 1994, concluding with an assessment, also brief, of the problems facing South African democracy. Adapted from the source document.