Abstract:
The paper argues that in order to adequately analyse the development of postcolonial
democracy – in this case South Africa – a theoretical model has to take
into account the context within which that democratic experiment finds itself in.
This context is shaped by the international political economy, the circulation of
a democracy discourse at both the level of global and local political culture, and
the history of state-formation. The paper explores what might explain the
resurgence of purportedly ‘traditional’ modes of governance, symbolised by the
‘chief’ across several rural landscapes. It argues that the inability of the state
to affect fundamental changes in the social, political and economic conditions of
the rural hinterlands has created a situation in which local power holders are
able to redefine traditional cultural values. In the process of doing so, these
local power holders both shape and are shaped by a global discourse of what
democracy might be and mean. The paper highlights the debate concerning
notions of “African” forms of democracy, embodied most starkly by some of
Nelson Mandela’s writings, which hold that village level deliberation and
chieftaincy based upon community consensus may be more appropriate models
of democracy than western versions based upon the notions of electoral
contestation. This argument stands in sharp contrast to conventional
approaches to democracy which would suggest that traditional leadership is an
anachronism of lesser developed countries and stands in contrast to western
democratic norms and values.
