After three hundred and forty-two years of colonialism and apartheid, South Africans of all walks of life experienced their first democratic elections in 1994. Now, as the country is at the precipice of the 5th democratic elections, it has known no government other than the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC has had landslide victories at the ballot box and always managed to secure an electoral vote of around 66%. These victories have not been by accident and have been carefully managed through an Alliance Pact with the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The nature of the Alliance has infiltrated and influenced the character of contemporary South African public administration. This study postulates vigorously that an alliance is not a coalition, but rather a partnership of ideological semblance and political decorum. This is most significantly expressed through the National Democratic Revolution (NDR). The study further elucidates the notion that the NDR remains the main political artery of the ANC and is seminal in the policy debates and critical platforms for each of the Alliance Partners. The study affirms that irrespective of this convergence of ideology, there is periodic divergence on the leadership role of the ANC viz a viz that of the Alliance as the strategic centre for policy and governance issues. However, the ANC has over the years successfully challenged this assertion and through practice, led the Alliance in a politically driven manner that is predicated on consultation, due diligence and functional purpose. However, any member of the SACP or COSATU who desires to be part of parliament or the executive is required to be a member of the ANC. This, the study asserts, is the new formation of a political partnership. The study adumbrates that the SACP (even though it is registered as a political party with the Independent Electoral Commission) and COSATU do not contest elections separately. As part of the agreement, only the ANC contests elections and as such leads the Alliance. While COSATU and the SACP provide advice through Alliance structures on the deployment of cadres in the public service, the deployment committee is an ANC structure and the final decisions in regard to deployment resides with the ANC. This study has reinterpreted the dialogue within the Tripartite Alliance and how this has moulded the political nomenclature of the ANC, and the solidified impact on the way in which public administration is affected and effected in South Africa and vice versa. The study presents with equanimity how the practice, for example, of dual membership of two political organisations (ANC and SACP) enriches the public service and the policy-making process in a developmental state. It furthermore points to the imperative for a clear underlying ideology (as provided for through the NDR) and certainty as to who leads in such an arrangement. This study finds that it is through the Alliance structures that individual leaders within the Governing Party (ANC) are held to account for their actions – and after a hundred years of existence, the ANC and Alliance structures have managed to address the challenges of time, the pressures of political stress and the coalition of a “broad-based political church”. The logic of maintaining this political marriage and developmental triangulation, and also interpreting the essence of consolidating party manifestos to its membership, and further to preserving democratic principles, while at the same time translating this into the action of good governance in South Africa, is complex, yet manageable. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / am2013 / School of Public Management and Administration / unrestricted

To what extent does China's experience of economic reform since 1989 compel a reconsideration of the ontological foundations of contemporary capitalist development? China's political economy remains characterized by a unique and resilient political structure (the Chinese Communist Party) that penetrates both 'private' (market) and 'public' (state) organizations. The conceptual rootedness of contemporary theories of comparative and international political economy in a distinctly Western historical experience of capitalist development hinders their ability to understand Chinese capitalism on its own terms—as historically, culturally, and globally embedded. To generate greater analytic traction in understanding China's otherwise paradoxical constellation of actors and dynamics, I argue that contemporary capitalism should be studied as a set of mechanisms for managing and exploiting socio-economic uncertainty, rather than according to the binary logics of state regulation and market competition. These mechanisms can be conceptualized as an overarching risk environment. On this basis, I trace how the cognitive frames, social institutions, and relational networks that emerged within the 'socialist market economy' in China's post-Tiananmen financial system have placed the Chinese Communist Party at the nexus of the state and the market. I argue that specific ideas emerged about how to manage the flow of capital, playing a significant role in underpinning expectations of financial growth and stability. During this period the financial system underpinned the CCP's capacity to both manage and exploit socio-economic uncertainty through the path of reform, forming a central explanatory factor in a developmental trajectory marked by a trifecta of rapid economic growth, macroeconomic stability, and deepening socio-economic imbalances. Rather than viewing the path of financial reform in China solely in terms of 'partial' or 'failed' free- market reform, it thus becomes possible to cast China's development in a new light as the product of a more concerted vision of how the financial system would enable a mode of economic development that combined the drive for capital accumulation with the distinctive socio-political circumstances of post-1989 China.

This Master thesis contributes to the history of science in the period of the Czechoslovak communist regime. The thesis deals with the attempts to create a scientific theory of propaganda as an independent branch of science. The main goal of this thesis is to present what led to the formation of the Marxist theory of propaganda, describe its development and potential changes in the approach to propaganda during the reference period. Further goals are to describe the sources of the theory of propaganda, the concern of the official institutions and the people who dealt with propaganda. The research is based on the archive materials from the National Archives of the Czech republic and the Slovak National Archives, and on the works about the theory of propaganda. The central figure of this thesis is Miloslav Chlupáč, who dealt with the theory of propaganda in the whole reference period and who was influential to the most phases of the development of the theory of propaganda. The reference period begins with the changes in the society after the year of 1948, with the main concern being science, education and propaganda; and first contributions to the theory of propaganda, which were based on the socio-political situation in the 1950s. Following important phase in the development of the theory of propaganda were...

(in English): The thesis focuses on the regional organisation of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in the Liberec region. In the political system of interwar Czechoslovakia, KSČ was specific in that its members hailed from all local ethnic groups. It was therefore, above all, the local Germans who formed the major part of the Liberec organisation. In the 1920s in some districts within the region, KSČ received up to one third of all votes cast, while throughout the 1930s, its support diminished rapidly in favour of the Sudetendeutsche Partei (SdP). The thesis seeks to clarify the causes of this sudden drop. It identifies as one of the major factors the mutually contradictory identities which were being formed within the local branch of the movement, i.e. the communist, the German and the Czechoslovak identity. These three came into alignment, to a certain degree, only shortly before the Munich Agreement with the emergence of a communist Czechoslovak narrative established on a supraethnic basis. The study also takes note of the developments in the KSČ headquarters in Prague as these had significant impact on the peripheral Liberec organization and further places the problem within the context of the First Czechoslovak Republic and its society. The policies and politics of the central...

This thesis constitutes the first full-length study of Polish Communists in Canada, a group that provided a substantial segment of the countries socialist left in the early 20th century. It traces the roots of socialist support in Poland, its transplantation to Canada, the challenges it faced within an ethnic community heavily influenced by Catholicism, the complications caused by its links to the Comintern, and its changing strength and decline. It offers a deeper understanding of the ways in which the Communist party was able to appeal to certain ethnic groups, such as through cultural outreach, as well as its complicated and often arguably counter-productive relationship with the Comintern. It also furnishes important information on the efforts of the RCMP and Polish consulates to maintain control over the communists, as well as how generally improved material conditions among Poles, especially following the Second World War, along with the influence of the Cold War, accounted for a rapid decline in support. The thesis is primarily based on sources generated by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs or, more precisely, by the Polish consulates in Winnipeg, Montreal and Ottawa. One the Canadian side, the thesis took advantage of RCMP records, Canadian security bulletins, immigration records and Polish-language newspapers printed in Canada. By utilizing these sources, this study not only analyses the interaction of the Polish Canadian communist movement with other segments of the Polish community in Canada, but it also moves beyond the introverted approach that has characterized most studies of ethnic organizations in Canada by placing the movement within a “Canadian” context to analyze its relations with the government, broader segments of Canadian society, and the Communist Party of Canada (CPC).

The thesis deals with the way the organization, meaning and symbolism I. Spartakiad held in 1955 in Czechoslovakia for the communist regime. In the introduction deals with political, economic, social and cultural situation after the World War II in Czechoslovakia. Then the thesis deals with the field of physical education and sport. It deals with the process of the unification of physical education in the interests of the communist party and its effects on the arrangement I. Spartakiad. A key issue is the demonstration of abuse traditions sports in Czechoslovakia, abuse Sokol festivals in order Spartakiad in terms of their organization and eventually themselves abuse masses protruding trainees. All this also presented an example of gymnastic songs, during which trainees through movements of their bodies to express a clear link to the communist symbolism.

This thesis introduces China's contemporary history especially the period 1949-1976 based on the analysis of selected British and American historiography. Through the criticism and comparison of British and American scholars' discourse, this thesis will obtain a deeper understanding of China's history. This thesis regards Mao Zedong as the main China's historical figure, as well as the construction of new China as the main line of writing. So the position of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party during the period of the construction of new China is an important part to discuss in this thesis. The thesis mainly talks about the period 1949-76 of China from the perspective of political and economic policies and movements, international relations, social issues, military actions and cultural movements. In addition, this thesis also emphasizes on discussing the angles, methodology and terminology of British and American historiography on China's contemporary history.

This diploma thesis deals with one phase of Josef Smrkovský's life between 1945-1963. After WW II and his engagement in the Prague Uprising, he was an eminent communist politician who possessed considerable power in the agrarian policy. However, he was arrested in 1951, became a victim of political trials and was sentenced to jail. He was later released due to the order of a rehabilitation committee, but he was not fully rehabilitated. The thesis examines and compares primary sources on Smrkovský's trial, describing methods of the State Secret Police such as surveillance, interrogations and both physical and psychological violence. Reports of Smrkovský's cellmates are also commented on. The thesis concludes with the analysis of rehabilitation committees and the effort of Smrkovský to clear himself. He re-entered political life at the beginning of the sixties. KEYWORDS Josef Smrkovský, politics, persecution, the fifties, The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, State Secret Police, rehabilitation

This work examines the prosecution of the Roman Catholic Church in the Communist-ruled Czechoslovak Republic. The first part analyzes the mutual relationship of the communist ideology and the Roman Catholic Church. The basic tenets of communism are presented via the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and consecutive texts labeled Marxist- Leninist. The thoughts of the church are presented through the statements of several popes that took a stand against the ideals of communism and the atrocities committed in their name. The second chapter analyzes the individual steps the Communist-controlled state took against the church. Particular attention is devoted to the period from the February 1948 Communist takeover up to the end of the 1950s. This period can be further divided into three phases, distinguished by the differing tactics employed by the Communist Party. In the first phase, the Communists were attempting to subdue the church, the second phase was characteristic by very ruthless prosecution of the church officials, while the hallmark of the third phase was mainly a systematic policy of atheization. The aim of this work is a comparison of the ideological underpinnings of the Communist ideology with the real-world practice of the attempted elimination of religion from society. Focus is...

This article discusses ambiguous tactics of German Communist resisters in the Third Reich. The official historiography of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) portrayed Communist resisters as unfaltering heroes. By contrast, revisionist studies published after 1990 presented Communists as traitors and renegades. This study transcends these approaches that revolve around legitimation or de-legitimation of the dictatorship, and examines the dubious manoeuvring of three German Communists who strategically collaborated with the Nazis, namely Theodor Bottländer, Friedrich Schlotterbeck and Wilhelm Knöchel. While Knöchel’s attempts to outwit the Gestapo failed and could not prevent his execution, Schlotterbeck and Bottl€ander found ways to survive - largely without betraying their comrades. Even so, the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD), as well as its successor in the GDR, the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), reprimanded venturesome, inventive and obstinate Communists, excluded them from the party and brought them to court. The harsh reactions are indicative of the inability of Communist historiography to acknowledge ‘Eigen-Sinn’, and highlight a central shortcoming of the antifascist doctrine. Likewise, more recent revisionist approaches have failed to recognise various attempts of Communists to minimise harm and survive in the grey zone between betrayal and loyalty.