Doctoral Degrees (Political Science)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Political Science) by browse.metadata.advisor "De Jager, Nicola"

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    Challenges facing anti-corruption mechanisms in dominant party systems: a case study of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, 2004-2019
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Mchunu, Ngqapheli; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The African National Congress (ANC) has achieved remarkable success in South Africa's multi-party democratic elections since 1994, obtaining the majority of the votes in each election and achieving convincing electoral successes. In every election cycle the incumbent has maintained its majority resulting in a dominant party system and a steady grip on state resources. The democratic well-being of South Africa is thus contingent on the performance of the dominant party that is in power. This extends to the health of a democracy, which can only be achieved with independent and effective horizontal accountability mechanisms. However, in the case of South Africa, high levels of fraud, corruption and the mismanagement of state resources have characterised the ANC’s dominance across all spheres of government underlines the importance of anti-corruption mechanisms in the public sector. Therefore, this research study sought to understand the challenges facing public sector anticorruption mechanisms in a dominant party system where pervasive public sector corruption is encouraged and maintained by the incumbent at the provincial level of government. Despite the initially competitive electoral contestation between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the ANC during the first decade of democracy, the province of KwaZulu-Natal has since become an ANC stronghold, and during the ANC’s period of governing there have been continuous allegations of corruption, often involving senior members of the ruling party across the province. Poor fiscal practices, the absence of political stability, and the prevalence of patronage networks have all had an influence on the provincial departments and local government municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal, with reports of widespread corruption implicating ANC officials. Utilising a qualitative methodology and a case study design, primary data were collected from key informants through semi-structured interviews. Key informants from anti-corruption entities, namely the Public Service Commission, the Auditor-General, the Public Protector and the Standing Committee on Oversight, were interviewed, together with knowledgeable members of civil society and academia. Findings from this research study suggest that the blurring of party and state lines, political interference, limited capacity, and non-compliance are key impediments to the effectiveness of anti-corruption mechanisms. A lack of political will proved to be an additional impediment to the effectiveness of the accountability mechanisms, particularly in the provincial legislative oversight committee. The dominant party system has compromised the independence of anti-corruption mechanisms in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and hindered their role of seeking accountability. The current existing anti-corruption mechanisms rely heavily on political will from the ruling party, which has been absent, yet in order for them to be successful, they need to be free from political interference. To counteract the accountability challenges brought on by the shortcomings of the dominant-party system, it is recommended that existing institutions be empowered with greater autonomy, especially the Public Service Commission, which ideally needs to become a Chapter 9 institution. And in order to avoid placing further strain on the national budget, it would be wiser to focus on increasing the independence and efficiency of the already existing anti-corruption institutions rather than creating new ones. The decline of the ANC’s electoral support and the seemingly evident end of the dominant-party system, and its replacement with a more competitive, multi-party system, might in turn enable the effectiveness of anti-corruption initiatives and hence provide hope of greater accountability in South Africa’s political future.
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    The impact of organised crime on social control by the state : a study of Manenberg in Cape Town, South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Lambrechts, Derica; Du Toit, P. V. D. P.; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study set out to research the influence of a local non-state actor on the role and authority of the state, in the domestic environment. Accordingly, the research problem focused on the impact of a domestic actor on the association between the state and the society. This study only focused on the state at the level of local government and the impact of one specific actor, organised criminal groups, on social control by the state. Thus, state-society relations were discussed in this context. In order to guide this study, the main and two supportive research questions were stated as follows: What is the impact of organised crime on the social control by the state? What are the power dynamics between local governance, criminal agents and society? Has the state become criminalised at the level of local government, as a result of the activities of organised crime, and if so, to what extent? The state thus functioned as the dependent variable and organised criminal groups as the independent variable. The theoretical foundation of this study was located in state-society relations, and specific reference was given to the work of Migdal (1988) and his analysis of state social control, pyramidal and weblike societies. Furthermore, a neo-pluralist view of the state was followed. A conceptualisation of the criminalisation of the state was provided, as the criminalisation of the state was regarded as one possible impact of organised crime on the state. In order to analyse the criminalisation of the state, a framework was constructed from four main avenues of empirical observation. In order to answer the research questions, a case study research design and a predominantly qualitative methodology was selected. As a case, the City of Cape Town was selected and Manenberg, located on the Cape Flats, as the site for the research. A case study research design created the opportunity to describe the context in detail and to connect the micro level of analysis to the macro level; thus, it provided insight on the research topic that enabled the researcher to expand/build theory. The field research process occurred over a period of three months using a triangulation of methods: Key informant interview, small group discussions and observation with three categories of respondents. These three categories included: Community members of Manenberg, organised criminal groups and agents of local government and local governance. In order to set the stage for the empirical analysis, a contextualisation of the dependent and independent variables were provided. It was stated that there is a lack of a universally agreed upon definition of organised crime, and as a result, a conceptualisation of organised crime was generated for this study. It was further argued that the majority of literature treats organised criminal groups and organised criminal gangs as two separate concepts, despite the fact that there are more similarities than differences. Thus, for the purpose of this study, a conclusion was reached that the difference is inconsequential. The development of organised crime in South Africa and an examination of the historical development of the gangs on the Cape Flats were described. With regards to the dependent variable, the context was provided for an analysis of local government in South Africa. The demographical and operational features of the municipal area of the City of Cape Town were explained, with specific reference to safety and security elements. The primary data collected was analysed according to the indicators of social control (compliance, participation and legitimacy), as identified by Migdal (1988). In addition, the framework to analyse the criminalisation of the state at the level of local government was applied on the case study. Based on the analysis, a different system, to what was described by Migdal (1988) in his narrative of a triangle of accommodation was found to be in operation in Manenberg on the Cape Flats. It was confirmed that there is the presence of a weakened state and accordingly, a weblike society, where social control is fragmented between local government and the criminal community. However, in this weblike society a system of local power dynamics exists between the criminal community, social community and local agents of governance, where dyadic collaboration occurs between all three the actors. However, despite the collaboration, the criminalisation of the state does not occur, but rather the statification of the organised criminal community, as it provides goods and service to the social community. The main findings can be summarised as: If a state lacks extensive social control and a rival authority has claimed a level of social control, this will not necessarily lead to the further weakening of the state, as a result of a system of power dynamics in place, where collaboration between the social community, the criminal community and local agents of governance occurs. This system is kept in place by: On-going efforts by the state to maintain (or regain) compliance, participation and legitimacy; corrupt agents of the state (specifically in the security sector); a level of operational ease that exists for the criminal community (and the interweaving of the criminal community in the social community) and a relatively strong society that acknowledges the benefits of criminal activities for the social community, but also recognises the authority and control of the state.
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    International migration, xenophobia and the South African state
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-12) Musuva, Catherine Kavata; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation seeks to advance the political understanding of xenophobia in South Africa by examining the relationship between the South African state and its African migrant population. It investigates the practices of frontline officials of three state institutions when dealing with African migrants and relates such practices to the prevalence of xenophobia. These institutions are the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Police Service and the City of Cape Town. The state of exception, propounded by Giorgio Agamben, provides a conceptual lens through which to examine the practices of state officials towards African migrants and the place of migrants in South African society. This concept is concerned with the law and the conditions of its application or suspension. It is characterised by the relationship between sovereign power and ‘bare life’– the form of deprived subjectivity produced by and captured in the exercise of sovereign power. The research is guided by a central question: Do the practices of state officials (from the three institutions), as experienced by African migrants, reinforce xenophobia in South Africa? This question is addressed by way of four secondary questions: a) How are the practices of state officials experienced by migrants?; b) To what extent are migrants treated differently by state officials in terms of their legal status or nationality?; c) Is the approach of state officials towards migrants evidence of a state of exception?; and, d) If so, to what extent has a state of exception in dealing with migrants shaped xenophobia in South Africa? In order to answer the research questions, an ethnographic field study was undertaken in Cape Town. The data-collection instruments were semi-structured interviews and observation at selected Home Affairs offices. A total of 40 African migrants, seven key informants from organisations that work on migration issues and two state officials were interviewed. The migrant sample represented 13 African countries and comprised five legal migrant categories. The key findings are that, firstly, migrants’ experiences with state officials were predominantly negative. Secondly, the primary basis for differential treatment of migrants was their foreignness, regardless of their nationality. With regard to the police and municipal officials, migrants’ experiences were further differentiated by other variables such as residential area, socio-economic status, and knowledge of the law or access to human rights organisations. There were also apparent differences in how migrants experienced Home Affairs officials based on their legal status with asylum seekers and refugees experiencing worse treatment than temporary and permanent residents. Thirdly, evidence of the state of exception varied within the three institutions. The main agents of the state of exception were mainly Home Affairs officials followed by the police. In the case of Home Affairs officials, the targets were predominantly illegal foreigners, asylum seekers and refugees, and in the case of the police migrants who are informal traders were targeted. The most evident site for the practice of the exception was the Refugee Reception Office. Fourthly, both the state of exception and xenophobia have an exclusionary power, which makes them mutually reinforcing.
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    South African land reform as peacebuilding: integrating perspectives from social identity theory and symbolic politics in a peacebuilding conceptual framework
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Young, Gert; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study considers land reform as an essential part of the South African transformation. In particular it considers land reform as having the potential to impact social relations and therefore as an initiative that has the potential to either normalize or further entrench conflictual social relations. In order to address this conflictive potential the study suggests that land reform should be considered and conducted in terms of a peacebuilding framework. The study argues that existing approaches to peacebuilding are lacking in their integration of Social Identity (as represented by Social Identity Theory and Self-categorization Theory) and Symbolic Politics concepts (as developed from Symbolic Interactionism and the notion of Symbolic Politics in Murray Edelman’s heritage) in their conceptual frameworks. Lederach’s (1997) comprehensive peacebuilding framework, it is argued, offers sufficient conceptual complexity to integrate these ideas in peacebuilding thinking and practice. The absence of the application of these concepts is apparent in current research on South African land reform, an initiative seen as a necessary transformation process but one characterized by intergroup conflicts. Existing literature exhibits limited exploration of the complex social identities and symbolic interpretations that are prevalent in land reform, especially those represented by the perspectives of current land owners. These limitations, it is argued, can be addressed by application of concepts from the Social Identity perspective and a Symbolic Politics perspective. The purpose as well as limits of the research are indicated by the following research questions: 1) How do land owners experience land reform, particularly in terms of their social identities and the symbolic dimension of politics? 2) How can these experiences be explained in terms of the Social Identity and Symbolic Politics perspectives? 3) What can these perspectives contribute to a peacebuilding framework for land reform? The research questions are pursued through an ethnographic case study using qualitative data collected from 2011-2014 from 42 individual, semi-structured interviews with land owners in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The individuals interviewed are all land owners that are actively involved in agriculture. Their involvement ranges from large scale commercial practices that incorporates an extensive agri-business dimension to small scale, family-owned commercial farming enterprises. The agricultural activities they are involved in include fruits, forestry, livestock and game farming. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za The key findings are that 1) land reform reflects complex interpretive processes as seen by the fact that land owners rely on various identity categories and meanings when assessing land reform; 2) land owner categorization preferences are less explicitly based on racial categories and more on role/function categories, although examples of both are found in the data; 3) as such they consider the land reform context less in terms of racial relations (white/black) and more in terms of relationships between ‘farmers’, ‘government officials’ and ‘claimants’ with a strong negative sentiment towards ‘government officials’ and a more sustainable sentiment towards ‘claimants’; 4) land reform represents a form of identity threat to land owners and as such has significant implications for their categorization, identification and social comparison processes and thus for their long term social relations; 5) apart from the threats perceived, land owners find significant structural reassurances in the political and legislative frameworks that are intended to govern land reform; 6) existing research on land reform also needs to take the perspectives of land owners into account if a peaceful resolution to land reform challenges are to be found; 7) the Social Identity and Symbolic Politics perspectives can, at least conceptually, be integrated in a peacebuilding framework such as that proposed by Lederach (1997).