Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa

by Robert B. Horwitz

• ISBN13: 9780521791663
• ISBN10: 0521791669
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The book examines the reform of the communication sector in South Africa as a detailed and extended case study in political transformation - the transition from apartheid to democracy. The reform of broadcasting, telecommunications, the state information agency and the print press from apartheid-aligned apparatuses to accountable democratic institutions took place via a complex political process in which civil society activism, embodying a post-social democratic ideal, largely won out over the powerful forces of formal market capitalism and older models of state control. In the cautious acceptance of the market, the civil society organizations sought to use the dynamism of the market while thwarting its inevitable inequities. Forged in the crucible of a difficult transition to democracy, communication reform in South Africa was navigated between the National Party's embrace of the market and the African National Congress leadership's default statist orientation.

Table of Contents

List of Tables page	x
Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	xviii
Introduction and Overview	1	(25)
The Ancien Regime in the South African Communications Sector	26	(61)
``Sharing Power without Losing Control'': Reform Apartheid and the New Politics of Resistance	87	(33)
``Control Will Not Pass to Us'': The Reform Process in Broadcasting	120	(58)
``All Shall Call'': The Telecommunications Reform Process	178	(104)
Free but ``Responsible'': The Battle over the Press and the Reform of the South African Communication Service	282	(41)
Conclusion: Black Economic Empowerment and Transformation	323	(34)
Appendix	357	(2)
References	359	(36)
Index	395