This study is about economic diplomacy of China in Africa. It describes development of China-Africa relations, their current form and examines, whether less democratic countries trade more with China than the democratic ones. The study is divided into four chapters. The first one defines economic diplomacy theoretically. The second one focuses on China-Africa relationship from its history up to establishing of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. It also describes motives of China-Africa cooperation, stressing China's energy dependance. The third chapter describes development of China-Africa trade, Chinese foreign direct investments and development aid and pros and cons of China's presence in Africa. The last chapter examines relationship between level of democracy in african countries and their trade with China.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The process of educational transformation in South Africa was characterised by the creation of a coherent policy and legislative framework (e.g. Constitution; South African Schools Act, 1996) that would form the basis for systematic changes. My concern is if or to what extend the transformational goals of access, redress, equality, quality, freedom and participation manifest itself in public high schools, particularly those schools from historically disadvantaged communities. Engaging in an interpretive and critical analysis of data (South African Schools Act, 1996 and diverse educator voices), I explore the conceptual and pragmatic links between different nuances of democracy in schools. There seem to be huge gaps between policy and practice. As the transformation of the education system is inseparable from the total transformation of our nation, I contend that the education landscape needs to be reviewed. A rigorous multi-facetted approach by all role players is necessary in order to meet the complexity of challenges to the process of transforming the education system of South Africa, in order to bring about a deep democracy. KEY WORDS: Education, transformation, democracy, participation, equality and quality. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die proses van onderwys-transformasie in Suid-Afrika is gekenmerk deur die daarstelling van 'n koherente beleids-en wetgewende raamwerk (o.a. Konstitusie; Suid-Afrikaanse Skolewet, 1996), wat die grondslag van sistematiese veranderinge sou vorm. My besorgdheid is of, en tot watter mate die transformasie-doelwitte van toeganklikheid, regstelling, gelykheid, kwaliteit, vryheid en deelname in publieke hoërskole gemanifesteer word - veral dié skole in histories benadeelde samelewings. Verbind tot 'n interpretatiewe- en kritiese data-analise van die Suid-Afrikaanse Skolewet en menings van diverse onderwyslui, ondersoek ek die konseptueie en pragmatiese skakeling tussen verskillende nuanses aangaande demokrasie in skole. Daar blyk groot gapings tussen beleid en praktyk te wees. Omdat die transformasie van die onderwysstelselonlosmaaklik deel vorm van die totale transformasie van ons nasie, voer ek aan dat die opvoedkundige landskap dringend in heroënskou geneem moet word. 'n Daadwerklike, multi-fassettige benadering deur alle rolspelers is nodig ten einde die komplekse uitdagings ten opsigte van die transformasie van die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwys die hoof te bied, en sodoende 'n diep demokrasie tot stand te bring. SLEUTELWOORDE: Onderwys, transforrnasie, demokrasie, deelname, gelykheid en kwaliteit.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies University of the Witwatersrand March 2015 / Recent 21st century political developments in South Africa have given rise to debate surrounding a threat to a functioning democracy. New radical political parties, turmoil in the labour sectors, and dysfunctional government policies and activities have made populist tendencies a central aspect of this debate. Populism is an entity oft evoked in a negative light and rhetoric in this debate. It is associated with demagogues and the ‘uncontrollable’ urges of the masses that would be let loose upon society given the chance, destroying democracy in the process. It is the aim of this paper to argue the opposite. By expanding and contributing to the theoretical literature on populism, and through the analysis of empirical evidence – the Western Cape farm worker’s strikes and the Marikana strikes and subsequent massacre of 2012 –in South Africa this research report seeks to fill a gap in the conceptualisation and practical characterisation of populism in our political setting. Can populism be conceptually, theoretically, and empirically utilised to characterise and explain trends in contemporary South African politics and can it be utilised in providing a contextual underpinning for explaining recent events in South African society as a whole? Through the reliance on the theories of Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Zizek the aim will be to identify the underlying gaps in democratic politics that gives rise to populist movements and through this argument to build and utilise this conception of populism as a positive and effective analytical tool of contemporary South African politics.

Research Report for the Degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies Graduate School for Humanities and Social Science University of the Witwatersrand Submitted: March, 2015 / This dissertation delves into the contested post-1994 transition to deliver economic justice and development in South Africa, particularly the country’s more recent quest to emulate the interventionist economic strategies successfully implemented in South East Asia. It follows from the governing African National Congress (ANC) being one among a few governments that have explicitly committed themselves to building a developmental state. Among some of its intentions, such a state aims to alter market incentives, reduce risks, offer entrepreneurial visions and manage conflicts. Specifically, the research study examines the role of industrial sector planning in South Africa as a component of a developmental state. In the 20th century East Asian developmental states, also known as early generation developmental states, such selective industrial policy was characterised by close ties between government and business that facilitated the sharing of information. These countries – Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore - were also distinguishable by the ability of the state to “discipline” capital through treating incentives, not as “gifts” but as enforceable performance contracts. The paper is split into three parts. Part 1 looks at the origins and evolution of the concept of a developmental state, along with key elements of such a state and their applicability to South Africa. Part 2 traces South Africa’s association with industrial sector planning, from the Jan Smuts era, through Hendrik Verwoerd until the Jacob Zuma administration. Part 3 is a case study that examines two particular sectors, the automotive industry and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector (consisting of offshore call centres and related activities) to gauge the level of corporatism, along the state’s ability or desire to “discipline” or “reward” companies in pursuit of its industrialisation goals.

The South African Parliament has set up a programme to inform and educate the public about Parliament and to build democracy. Our country has only recently become a democracy. Previously, people were not allowed to vote nor participate in making decisions that affected their lives. Organisations such as Parliament were not open and did not answer to the public. As a result, the majority of the people do not have the experience and the skills to participate in the new democracy. This places a major challenge on all those who are committed to developing democracy in the country. The growing democratic culture can only be built upon if the public participate in issues that affect them. This requires that people are made aware of what is happening in organisations like Parliament and understand how they can become involved. People need to know how to raise their concerns when decisions affecting them are being taken. Once decisions are made, the public should be informed about their rights and responsibilities and how to hold government accountable. In building a democratic culture, the right of individuals to hold differing political views must be promoted. Parliament, as a national representative body, has a responsibility to contribute to deepening the democracy we have achieved. To do this the public education programme that has been set up will: * inform people about what happens in Parliament and about democracy generally; * educate people about how Parliament and democracy work and about their rights and responsibilities; * motivate people to participate in democratic processes and engage with decision making bodies, especially Parliament; and’ * promote a culture of democracy and human rights. To achieve the above, the Public Education Department (PED) has been established to coordinate the implementation of the programme. The PED will undertake a number of activities including workshops, public meetings, the distribution of publications and audiovisuals. campaigns, outreach to the youth and educational tours of Parliament. In undertaking the programme. Parliament will work closely with Provincial Legislatures, Government Departments, civil society and the media. To consult with these agencies and to build support for the programme, a national conference will be held early next year. Prior to this conference, preparatory conferences will be held in each province. The provincial conferences will also design strategies for outreach to the different sectors within the province and plan for the implementation of joint activities. Parliament calls on all members of the public, organisations and the different sectors of society to become actively involved in the programme and the drive to deepen democracy in our country. Individuals and organisations requiring more information or wanting to make an input into the programme can telephone the PED on (021) 403 2460.

Our Constitution says that South Africa must have an independent body, called Parliament, to make the laws of the country. Parliament is made up of our political representatives who are called Members of Parliament (MPs). We choose the MPs by voting in elections. Parliament has two main parts, called the Houses of Parliament. They are the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). The MPs discuss and debate the new laws and make changes to existing laws. Parliament also has many committees where they discuss the laws in detail. Members of Parliament also make sure that the government departments do their work properly. / Funded by the European Union

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2008.

This study evaluates the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in educating people about participatory democracy in post apartheid South Africa. After the first democratic elections in 1994 the new government emphasised the importance of public participation in decision-making. The government has advocated this approach through Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) documents (Base Document and White Paper) and the South African Constitution Act 108 of 1996. However, because of public participation, novelty, and social exclusion, the majority of South African citizens still have very limited knowledge and need to be educated about the structures, systems and procedures of participatory democracy. In order to consolidate democratic government, there is a need to shift away from community outreach programmes as ‘road shows’, where there is no two-way ‘iterative and ongoing’ communication because of limited public political knowledge. Conversely, government appears to have done little to increase citizens’ political knowledge. By contrast, NGOs are playing a crucial role in this regard. This study evaluates the effectiveness of NGOs in improving optimal engagement in government and decisionmaking processes in KwaZulu-Natal. Given this scenario, the Centre for Public Participation (CPP) and the Democracy Development Programme (DDP) partnership serve as case studies for this research project. Interviews were conducted with the core facilitators and directors of the two organisations. Through comparative evaluation, the effectiveness of both organisations in promoting participatory democracy was qualitatively and quantitatively assessed using the constant comparative method (Maykut and Morehouse, 1994) and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software respectively. The results show that the trainees are more likely to participate in developmental issues at local levels compared to non-trainees. The implication of this is that education for participatory democracy is very important. However, it was found that NGOs are not achieving their goal of increasing participation by their target groups in most government processes due to NGO-public differences in what constitutes priorities. Encouraging is that the two NGOs were found to be ‘eye-openers’ for the trainees in that they equipped them with skills that would enable them to monitor local authorities and hold them accountable. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal,Durban, 2005.

Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa one of the challenges that has remained elusive to policy-makers has been the issue of how to redistribute the same democratic advances made at national level to more ordinary citizens at grassroots level. The concern has been how to include voices of previously marginalized communities. The immediate policy plan at local government level is entitled “participatory governance” and has been adopted by the post-apartheid national government of the ANC to limit this participatory-democratic gap. The laws and policies that constitute the body of this policy are the White Paper on Local Government adopted in 1998 and the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 and the Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998. The Msunduzi municipality has formally adopted this policy and it is called “community participation policy”, which has yielded rather unsatisfactory results to date. Setting aside the issue of implementation for now, the present study explores the institutional design of this policy of participatory governance in Msunduzi by applying the design principles of the theory of “empowered participatory governance”. This theory attempts to understand how to build a deep democratic culture via government-community partnerships through the concept of citizens who are empowered to play such a role. The major finding of this thesis is that there are design flaws in these institutions in this municipality which require a reform of the policy itself. However, this may not be enough, as more empowered citizens are also required. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.