Bøker av Heidi Brooks

Popular protest has become a regular feature of post-1994 South Africa. As a young democracy born out of resistance, we may understand the contemporary manifestations of protest as extensions of this broader history. However, it is notably in the context of formal democratic institutions that popular protest has become an increasingly normalised mode of influencing policy, demanding service delivery and forcing change. Protest is constitutive of South Africa's democratic politics, but also reflective of it.Protest in South Africa: Rejection, reassertion, reclamation explores the underpinnings of contemporary protest and both its short-term causes and structural drivers. Focusing on the surge of protest from the mid-2000s, this edited volume provides an overview of the complexity of protest action, the diversity of protest spaces and actors, and responses to protest from both citizens and state. The volume situates its analysis against the backdrop of the global wave of protest witnessed since the turn of the 21 century, while examining protest in South Africa's local and historical contexts.Contributors to the volume examine protests in relation to, among other factors, provision of infrastructure and services, contestations around socio-economic development, issues of citizenship, and demands for inclusive democratic governance. Chapters also examine the role of women in protest action, the policing of protest, and the intersection of protest action with spaces of formal politics. The volume also alerts us to the darker side of protest, and the destruction and division it may foment. It thus considers the prospects of South Africa's evolving, sometimes violent, protest terrain for social and state stability and democratic progress.In the diversity of spaces, sectors and communities of interests in which collective action has emerged, Protest in South Africa: Rejection, reassertion, reclamation shows how protest is underpinned by a rejection of the status quo, a reassertion of interests, and a reclaiming of the political and democratic space.

South Africa is characterised by a youthful population, and the challenges and possibilities that characterise the young generation are both warning signs and beacons of hope for a nation founded on social justice. Youth in South Africa: Agency, (in)visibility and national development takes stock of the nation's development as it affects young people.Authors offer both personal and professional insights into the ways in which the youth navigate their own pathways to adulthood. These include formal and informal engagements with politics, as well as protest, (un)employment, entrepreneurship, education, religion, experiences with sexuality and violence and a multitude of other life experiences.Contributors paint a picture of the initiative, agency and resilience of the youth, as well as the challenges before them. Authors also identify the state of "waithood" faced by those unable to make the transition out of youth into full adulthood as a result of their socio-economic circumstances and political context.By engaging these experiences and insights, and primarily informed by the inputs of young people, the authors highlight the limitations of existing youth policies and frameworks. The case is made for policy instruments to be informed by the lived experiences of the youth as they navigate a complex macrosocial environment, and by the messages the youth communicate about the limitations of current approaches.

This book examines the development of democratic thought in the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, with a focus on the movement's ideas about participatory democracy.