THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN POST-APARTHEID DEFENCE
Date
2011-05-13
Authors
Magano, Agnes Sherly
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Abstract
The mid-1970s South Africa saw the emergence of movements opposing
apartheid policies. The composition of these movements have varied from
individuals coming together in pursuit of basic social rights to the more complex
formations seeking a complete overhaul of all apartheid machinery which would
translate into democracy. These movements or formations together with a host of
others became known as civil society in the post-apartheid South Africa.
The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of South African civil
society in post-apartheid defence policy-making. It sought to achieve this by
analysing previous and current trends followed by government in the defence
policy-making processes. In particular, it focused on government’s engagement
of civil society in defence policy-making processes, periodised as (i) the
development and adoption of the White Paper on Defence (1996), (ii) Defence
Review (1998) and briefly touches on the current policy review known as (iii) the
Defence Update (2004).
Case study materials were gathered by means of primary and secondary data
collection methods where the former utilised semi-structured interviews with key
individuals involved in defence policy-making processes. Much has been
published about the first two cases and secondary data was collected from
available literature on the subject.
The examination of civil society participation in defence policy shows that South
African civil society has made significant progress in penetrating and engaging
the government in processes previously perceived as the reserve of the elite. The
1990 to 1998 period experienced unprecedented political fluidity, where civil
society made an impact in influencing policy outcomes. However, the findings
identified a trend in a review currently being carried out by the Department of
Defence (DOD) where there has been a notable reduction of civil society
participation, and very little being revealed about it.
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The study concludes that civil society is an important player in the
democratisation project and the Ministry of Defence needs to ensure that civil
society remains a player in policy making by strengthening its involvement in this
process.
One of the key recommendations is that both the Ministry and civil society
establish parameters for the latter’s participation in policy processes, with a view
to establishing of a forum comprised of all key actors in the sector i.e. policy
makers, academics, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), research
institutions etc. to facilitate dialogue on policy issues
Description
MM - P&DM
Keywords
Civil society, Defence policies