Nicola de Jager

• PhD (Political Science)
• Professor (Associate) at Stellenbosch University

In many southern African countries, the incumbents have retained control of executive power since independence, while opposition parties fare poorly. Why have liberation movements-turned government tended to produce dominant party systems, despite multiparty elections? And, what accounts for this dynamic of beleaguered opposition politics? It is th...

Despite constitutional aspirations for good (impartial) governance since 1996, partisan governance nearly brought South Africa to the brink of economic, social, and political implosion. For the duration of his tenure (2009–2018), President Zuma spent public funds for private ends with impunity and enabled the creation of a shadow state, which effec...

This article examines the use of populist discourse in South African politics. We investigate speeches of leaders from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). We find that the EFF consistently employs populist appeals, while both the incumbent ANC and o...

In the context of the global recession of democracy, this article engages with sub-Saharan Africa’s so-called ‘democratic’ deficit. Three arguments are presented. First, sub-Saharan Africa’s challenge is less a democratic deficit than it is a liberal deficit. The political elite are content to use the electoral mechanism to gain access to power but...

Is South Africa's democracy consolidating or is it part of the third wave of democratic reversals? Do you understand the structure and functions of the various spheres of the South African government and the importance of the 1996 Constitution? What role did women play in the South African journey to democracy? What are the socio-economic contexts...

Radicalism is not a new dynamic for South Africa. The 1940s held the potential for political and social reform in South Africa with the promise of a more inclusive approach towards the black majority in the country.

Free access through: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RZuegfFBwYwKThRwmZD2/full The global distribution of Christians is expected to change by 2050, with the largest proportion of Christians – more than a billion – residing in sub-Saharan Africa. Historical and empirical studies have argued for a positive relationship between the proportion of C...

Previous research has examined the link between political culture, as a manifestation of Protestantism, and democratic development. Arguments include that Protestantism generates a political culture that values individualism, liberty, egalitarianism, tolerance, pluralism and civic association. These values, in turn, are conducive to the development...

Despite their recognised democratic successes, Botswana and South Africa have had ambivalent experiences with liberal democracy. It is contended that they fall somewhere in-between what scholars refer to as electoral and liberal democracies; dominant party systems within Carothers’ ‘gray zone’. Two explanations are offered. The first relates to the...

Article can be accessed for free through: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/9QInQEX6RYxJwaP6RI44/full Post-apartheid South Africa has experienced its largest in-flow of migrants since the start of the crisis in Zimbabwe almost two decades ago from which Zimbabwe has yet to recover. This article aims to analyse the origins of the increased influx...

On 14 and 17 November 2009 approximately 3 000 foreigners (mostly Zimbabweans) were chased from their homes in the town of De Doorns in the Western Cape, South Africa. Their homes were looted and burned. The importance of revisiting this xenophobic attack lies in the unfortunate reality of the persistence of xenophobia in South Africa. This article...

The early elite of the African National Congress (ANC) embraced values of moral improvement, individual responsibility and a sense of social consciousness. The ANC now governs South Africa, but with what appears to be a different set of principles. The current scourge of corruption, increasing state control, coupled with a general lack of service d...

This edited volume focuses on the democratic performance of regimes in some of the least populous countries on the African continent. Using a framework developed by Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, each case study provides in-depth analysis of democratic contestation in the following arenas: electoral, judiciary, legislature, media, and civil society...

What does it mean to be a constitutional state? What impact did apartheid have on democracy in South Africa? What are the key issues and dynamics in understanding South Africa's political position? South African Politics: An Introduction provides students with an overview of how political policies have changed over time in South Africa, as well as...

This essay serves as an analysis of South Africa's dominant-party system. We address three questions. First, what accounts for the sustained electoral dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) and what does the ANC's current decline in voter support indicate? Second, what can we learn of the nature of South Africa's dominant-party system in...

Botswana and South Africa are often hailed as Southern Africa's democratic darlings. These democracies, however, occur within the context of dominant party systems; one party dominates over a prolonged period in an ostensibly democratic system. The Botswana Democratic Party has ruled since 1965, while the African National Congress has governed sinc...

Within southern Africa, there has been a steady increase in the number of dominant party systems — systems where one party dominates over a prolonged period in an ostensibly democratic system with regular elections and multiple parties participating. This party system has replaced the one-party system that dominated Africa’s political landscape aft...

China's development assistance to Africa has attracted varied criticisms from academics, Western governments and international donor organisations. The main criticisms have been directed at the lack of good governance conditions on its development assistance to African governments and its dealings with countries under sanction or isolation from the...

Native scholars explore the relationship between political parties and democracy in regions around the world. The development of political parties over the past century is the story of three stages in the pursuit of power: liberation, democratization, and de-democratization.Political Parties and Democracyis comprised of five, stand-alone volumes th...

Article can be accessed for free through: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/zvgpZXiwyuEQuh4F7cI7/full The history of the African National Congress (ANC) and the different traditions and ideologies that have intertwined over the years have resulted in a broad-based, eclectic party. The ANC's enduring dominance and widespread support since 1994 as...

In South Africa’s new democracy two trends are becoming apparent: political centralisation and the weakening of agents of political accountability. The article argues, first, that these trends are the result of the South African government’s use of two forms of co-optive power, namely institutional centralisation and dispositional centralisation. S...

The question of power remains critically important. South Africa provides a salient example of the relevance of soft or co-optive power. This paper investigates the South African government's use of two forms of co-optive power, namely, institutional centralisation and dispositional centralisation. The first refers to the centralising of the state...