Participatory Government and the Challenge of Inclusion: the Case of Local Government Structures in Post Apartheid South Africa

Fuente: Redalyc
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Ralph Mathekga
Format: Artículo científico
Sprache:en
Veröffentlicht: Universidad de los Andes 2006
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1876490014478565376
author Ralph Mathekga
author_facet Ralph Mathekga
contents Participatory Government and the Challenge of Inclusion: the Case of Local Government Structures in Post Apartheid South Africa Ralph Mathekga Política participation and inclusion democratisation institutionalization Local government structures are believed to be the essence of participatory democracy.It is through local government that citizens come into direct contact with their electedgovernment, as power flows from national to local government. It is against thisbackdrop that the new local government structures were adopted in South Africa: as ameasure to extend democracy to the larger citizenry. However, local governmentstructures have not been able to live up to expectations, as they are generallycharacterized by sluggishness in terms of service delivery; failure to attract communityparticipation; and, lately—towards the run-up of March 1 2006 local elections—massprotests and uprisings against these problems.The problem has been explained in termsof lack of capacity and technical know-how. This paper aims to go beyond suchexplanations, and argues that the local government “mayhem” has to do with structurallimitations when it comes to drawing citizens’ participation.Thus, in addition to lackof capacity, there is a problem of exclusion which undermines local government. 2006 artículo científico 0121-5612 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=81206305 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=812 Colombia Internacional application/pdf Universidad de los Andes Colombia Internacional (Colombia) Num.63
format Artículo científico
id redalyc_81206305
institution Redalyc
language en
publishDate 2006
publisher Universidad de los Andes
spellingShingle Participatory Government and the Challenge of Inclusion: the Case of Local Government Structures in Post Apartheid South Africa
Ralph Mathekga
Política
participation
and inclusion
democratisation
institutionalization
Participatory Government and the Challenge of Inclusion: the Case of Local Government Structures in Post Apartheid South Africa Ralph Mathekga Política participation and inclusion democratisation institutionalization Local government structures are believed to be the essence of participatory democracy.It is through local government that citizens come into direct contact with their electedgovernment, as power flows from national to local government. It is against thisbackdrop that the new local government structures were adopted in South Africa: as ameasure to extend democracy to the larger citizenry. However, local governmentstructures have not been able to live up to expectations, as they are generallycharacterized by sluggishness in terms of service delivery; failure to attract communityparticipation; and, lately—towards the run-up of March 1 2006 local elections—massprotests and uprisings against these problems.The problem has been explained in termsof lack of capacity and technical know-how. This paper aims to go beyond suchexplanations, and argues that the local government “mayhem” has to do with structurallimitations when it comes to drawing citizens’ participation.Thus, in addition to lackof capacity, there is a problem of exclusion which undermines local government. 2006 artículo científico 0121-5612 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=81206305 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=812 Colombia Internacional application/pdf Universidad de los Andes Colombia Internacional (Colombia) Num.63
title Participatory Government and the Challenge of Inclusion: the Case of Local Government Structures in Post Apartheid South Africa
topic Política
participation
and inclusion
democratisation
institutionalization
url https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=81206305