SubmItted In fulfilment of the Master of Arts Degree / The study traces and explains reformulation of ANC natlonatlsatlon policy between 1990
and early 1994. In doing so It develops the sociology of natlonallsatlon. It argues that
natlonallsatlon is a nexus of particular social relations. First, since these relations are
dynamic, nationalisation can only be fully understood through a concrete rather than an
abstract approach to its study. Second, the nature of the relations which natlonallsatlon
expresses are both political and economic. Therefore changes in ANC nationallsatlon
policy cannot be analyzed only from an economic or pragmatist perspective. Finally,
nationalisation reflects and expresses class relations. It is necessary to understand the
class character of the major actors Involved and the balance of class forces to analyze
any particular instance or absence of natlonallsatlon,
The ANC's natlonallsatlon policy gradually rejected wlde-scalo natlonalleatlon.
Nationallsatlon represents one form of the state-capital relation. The ANC's olass
character as a nationalist organisation constrains It to act within the broad framework
given by global trends in capitalism, since Its aim Is to get hold of a nation state (ttle
characteristic political form of capitalism). As a government-in-waltlng' during the
transition, It was Increasingly concerned to find the optimum relation between Itself (a
future state) and capital In Its economic policy, the aim being to safeguard the national
economy.
The advancing lnternatlonallsatlon of capital has created a tendency for a multi-polar
relation between individual capitals and various nation-states. Nationallsatlon (a close link
between Individual capitals and a rjngle nation state) is out of line with these trends.
However, these trends were not directly, unproblematlcally or even consciously
assimilated Into ANC policy. The ANC's contradictory relation to its mass base Is key in
understanding the ANC's increased sensitivity to such questions. The prolonged nature
of the transition revealed the political limitations on nationalism In the present global
context, in the ANC's vacillation between its mass base and other political actors. This
constrained the ANC's ability to drive home an economic and political programme of Its
own Initial choice and increased its sensitivity to capital and other major actors. Research
Into the South African economy and the experience of other countries was Interpreted
from the ideological framework given by the Eastern European revolutions and the
collapse of command 1st economies, which themselves were interpreted from the
framework of nationalist polit!cs.
The study concludes that natlonallsatlon must be understood to express social relations.
Its disappearance from ANC economic policy expresses the dynamic of the prevailing
capitalist system, through the agency of a nationalist organisation. / AC2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22110 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Ceruti, Claire |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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