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This thesis constitutes an inquiry into the relationship between civil society theory and democratic theory. It revolves around an investigation into, and comparison between, recent discourses on civil society originating from within diverse political contexts. This is in order to uncover what the central claims - both normative and programmatic - of civil society theory are in the contemporary era, how these relate to the political contexts within which they have originated, and why they reemerged when they did. The findings from this investigation then provided the material for a substantive critique of the overall coherence of recent civil society theory, and of the contribution of the idea of civil society to democratic theory and practice; they also enable a comparison of current ideas about civil society with classical civil society theory. The thesis presents a number of new arguments. Firstly, that all models of civil society,since their revival in the 1970s, make assumptions - though often hidden or unconscious - about what democracy is and of where it should take place. Secondly, recent notions of civil society are divided most clearly into radical and liberal-democratic models, with crucial implications for how civil society is conceived. Thirdly, civil society theory illustrates the close linkages between political ideas and the political base within which they are articulated; political discourse, despite its power to shape the political context, must itself evolve in accordance with the exigencies of the political base if it is to survive. Fourthly, contemporary civil society theory has shifted in a crucial aspect from classical civil society theory: while the latter was tied closely to liberalism, today's civil society theory is connected almost exclusively to democratic theory. Finally, it is argued that recent civil society theory adds little that is original to the lexicon of political theory. For despite the novelty of radical models of civil society from the 1970s and early 1980s (which, it is argued, have not retained their initial force), the idea of civil society figures increasingly as a rubric for already established liberal democratic orthodoxies about the desired relationship between the state and society.

Includes bibliographical references. / Many developing democracies have attempted to systematically engineer the party system in order to help reduce the salience of particularistic identities. In Sub-Saharan Africa, government intervention in political party development has been often been concerned with countering the political mobilization of ethnic, racial, and/or religious identities. This concern has led at least 19 Sub-Saharan African nations to design legislation to ban political parties based on ethnicity, race, tribe, religion, region or any other particularistic identity. This paper employs two measures to determine the particularistic nature of parties and compares the results across countries with particularistic party bans which have been enforced, those with bans which have not been enforced and countries without a ban. The paper argues that particularistic party bans do not consistently accomplish their intended effects. However, it is clear that particularistic identities are not primordial and do indeed react to political forces. If particularistic party bans are executed with oppression, the results can be detrimental to reducing the salience of ethnicity. On the contrary, if particularistic party bans are enforced or employed in a fair-handed manner the effects may be beneficial to the consolidation of democracy in divided societies. More important are the political and social contexts of a nation which either reinforce non particularistic politics or undermine it.

Policy research and analysis is a complex and dynamic field of study and practice. This study explores the field i l l terms of assessing the utility of contemporary policy techniques ill the intematiollal context and the implications thereof for environmental policy-making in South Africa. More recently, the politics of envirollmental policymaking has emerged as a major issue 011 both the agendas of the developed and developing nations. As underscored by the seminal Rio Earth Summit of 1992 the e11viro11melil is probably the most pressing challenge facing tile globe in the new millennium. Addressing and prioritising these policy issues may require radical policy shifts. However, this study shows that policy conditionalities prevailing i l l the more industrialised nations have been developed in a different context and may therefore be irrelevant and of limited utility to less developed nations, forcing the latter to subvert the conventional policy cycle. Specifically, this study has explored the context of environmental policy-making in South Africa and extrapolated essential policy proci!dures and elements for its environmental policy-making along the policy-making continuum. In addition, an over-arching framework of sustainable development must support environmental policy development in South Africa. International experience regarding the emerging sustainability paradigm and its relevance for South African policy development is paramount if it is not to lag global environmental policy innovations and developments. Sustainability should emerge as a key organising principle for debate around policy content and structure with the imperative of responding to local policy conditionalities and priorities. As long as South Africa and many developing nations employ industrialised policy techniques, its policy processes and principles will lag effective and context specific policy research and development.

The early 1990's marked the beginning of a new era for Southern Africa when a number of single party states began the transition to multiparty democratic systems. Within this process, democratic institutions were established and then have since played varied roles in normalizing of democratic norms in their respective countries. The elites who make these institutions play a vital role in maintaining democracy within these countries. This study examines their perceptions and actions in order to get a better understanding of the quality of representation and as a result the quality of democracy. More specifically the study examines how possible micro and macro level factors, such as electoral competitiveness, role orientations and electoral systems affect the level of constituency service performed by legislators in five Southern African countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia). The majority of data used in this study comes from Module 3 of the African Legislatures Project. Electoral data was also collected from national electoral commissions and country experts. The results indicate that as a whole the electoral system has an effect on the level of constituency service conducted by legislators. Role orientation does not appear to be a factor in legislator's decision about the amount of constituency service they will perform. Electoral competition is a factor for number of countries in the study. However, the evidence shows that in some cases higher levels of electoral competitiveness actually induce legislators to perform less constituency service.

Bibliography: leaves 66-68. / The aim of this study is to evaluate how the new and democratically elected South African Parliament as an institution has been able to hold the executive accountable for their activities. Accountability of the rulers has been identified as a central element In democratic government. In representative democracies there are two major models of government: presidential and parliamentary government. These two models have different methods for dealing with the issue of legislative oversight. Literature shows that this function is more effective in presidential systems than in parliamentary systems, since the presidential model provides a stronger constitutional framework for legislative oversight. The model that can be used to analyse South Africa is closely linked to the parliamentary model. However, the role of the President, the sovereign Constitution, and the anti-defection clause makes South Africa more of a hybrid-parliamentary model. As South Africa can be linked to the parliamentary model, this implies that Parliament will not be able to hold the executive effectively accountable. There are other non-constitutional factors that have an impact on Parliament's oversight function. In South Africa, the non-constitutional factors that have been in place in these five first years of democracy enhance the consequences of the parliamentary model. This means that these factors add to the existing provisions for ineffective accountability of the executive by Parliament. These are the large majority of the ANC, the strict internal discipline of the ANC, the weak opposition in Parliament, the lack of resources and staff in Parliament, and the lack of capacity, experience and expertise by the MP's. As the example of Sarafina 2 shows, these factors, and especially the large majority of the ANC in Parliament, add to the inability of the new South African Parliament to effectively hold the executive accountable.

The aim of this research project is to empirically unpack South African public opinion on government's performance in the area of school education. The descriptive analysis chapter shows that school education has not been as politically salient an issue amongst South Africans in post-apartheid South Africa. In addition, this chapter also shows that a vast majority of South Africans positively evaluate government's performance in the area of school education. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis chapter shows that the significant demographic variables collectively formed the strongest basis on which South Africans evaluated government's performance, followed by the significant general experiences with education variable and the significant heuristics variables respectively. Moreover, South Africans' perceptions of the present versus the past appear to be the strongest individual determinant of government's performance. The evidence therefore suggests that South Africans are making use of a schema that deals with their experiences of school education under apartheid to evaluate government's performance.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-131). / Establishing clear goals for a sustainable framework of good governance and development based on increasing equality and citizen participation has been the main concern of the government of Rwanda since the 1994 genocide. This was to be achieved by implementing decentralization based on the principle of participation and empowerment of local communities through the provision of mechanisms which encourage and motivate local citizen to initiate and implement development activities based on local needs.One particular interesting initiative has been the design of new institutional arrangements for decentralization of political, fiscal and administrative institutions for the purpose of good governance and, in particular, for poverty reduction. To attain this, strategic objectives were implemented, these included: Enabling and reactivating local people to participate in initiating, making, implementing and monitoring decisions and plans that concern them taking into account their local needs. Strengthening accountability and transparency in Rwanda by making local leaders directly accountable to the communities they serve. Enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of public administration to the local environment by placing the planning, financing, management and control of service provision at the point where services are provided. Enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in the planning, monitoring and delivery of services by reducing the burden from central government officials who are distanced from the center where needs are felt and services delivered. Developing sustainable economic planning and management capacity at local levels that will serve as the driving engine for planning, mobilization and implementation of social, political and economic development to alleviate poverty. The aim of this study is to explore the linkage between the implantation of decentralization and poverty reduction. The implementation of the policy of decentralization for the purpose of poverty reduction in Rwanda has seen mixed results.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63).

Includes bibliographical references. / This study has explored the New Language Policy of South Africa, with special reference to African languages as possible media of instruction, at pre-tertiary level of education. The most critical and relevant linguistic aspects examined here, takes into account the issue of multilingualism in education or multilingual education (particularly the issues that still handicaps it), the development of African languages and linguistic rights. The study provides a brief overview with regard to individual and collective rights in South Africa. In sum, the South African government’s attempt to implement the New Language Policy, in part, has been carefully examined. The study has also investigated the relationship between the New Language policy and the people it directly affects. In this respect, much attention has been paid to the attitudes of teachers and students of the African community, that is, African-language speakers, toward the New Language policy. However, the legitimacy of the New Language policy amongst the Afrikaans-speaking populace is not explored in this study. It is anticipated that further research will he conducted in this respect. This study has further demonstrated how the government can be entrapped through the designing of its public policies. Sometimes governments fail to implement the policies they have formulated and announced to the public. The New Language policy of South Africa is no exception. This study indicates that although the New Language policy is politically correct, it is practically unworkable, complex, problematic and controversial with regard to African languages as media of instruction. Some recommendations are provided to shed other alternatives with regard to the successful implementation of the New Language policy. The study indicates that the South African Government should minimise its eleven media of instruction. Whilst one language (English) should serve as a medium of instruction in predominantly African or Black public schools, other languages (African languages) should be taught as subjects in the school curriculum.