Review

[A] fine book ... the list of authors constitutes a virtual roll-call of South Africas leading political scientists. - Democratization

' [A] fine book ... the list of authors constitutes a virtual roll-call of South Africas leading political scientists.' - Democratization

'what is evidence from the various contributions is that there is little unanimity among the authors on how the opposition is best conceived or operationalised. The value of such divergent views lies in the fact that it not only stimulates debate, but also raises different issues...the merit of this collection lies in the fact that it brings together and reflects on many questions regarding the role of the opposition in South Africa.' - Yolanda Sadie, H-Net Reviews in Humanities and Social Sciences

what is evidence from the various contributions is that there is little unanimity among the authors on how the opposition is best conceived or operationalised. The value of such divergent views lies in the fact that it not only stimulates debate, but also raises different issues...the merit of this collection lies in the fact that it brings together and reflects on many questions regarding the role of the opposition in South Africa. - Yolanda Sadie, H-Net Reviews in Humanities and Social Sciences

Product Description

Nelson Mandela's African National Congress won an overwhelming victory in South Africa's liberation election and repeated that triumph when the electorate went back to the polls in 1999. Whilst testifying to the enduring popularity of the ANC, these results have precipitated an emergent debate about the quality of the country's hard won democracy. In particular, a critique of the new government's performance in office has developed around the notion of the ANC as a "dominant party", one of which for demographic, historical and social reasons is unlikely to be displaced from power in an election for the forseeable future. This has led, in turn, to key questions about the role of the political parties of opposition. The debate about the ANC's dominance therefore becomes a debate about whether democracy in South Africa is just formal or whether it is real.