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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/19856 |
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Creators | Du Toit, De Villiers |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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