PAPERBACK ISBN: 0-88258-244-5      $24.95

288 pages; 6 x 9 inches

A Comparative Perspective

by Ziyad Motala

In Constitutional Options for a Democratic South Africa, Ziyad Motala contends that the constitutions and state practices employed thus far by South African states have not facili­tated optimal political and socioeconomic devel­opment. He thus considers different constitutional and state options, emphasizing the importance of those that would not only ameliorate the enormous inequalities generated by colo­nialism and apartheid but also ensure equal democratic rights and protection to all citizens in the post-apartheid South Africa. Motala ponders the political outcomes of three post-inde­pendence models—the Western liberal federal state, the Soviet-inspired Marxist unitary state, and the locally inspired one-party African socialist state—carefully weighing the relative merits of each for addressing complex issues of socioeco­nomic development and national unity in multiethnic states. Upon comparing these state structures to the unjust and exploitative apartheid system, he advocates for a democratic, multiparty, nonracial, unitary state for South Africa, one in which personal liberties are protected and a basic standard of living for that nation’s black population is guaranteed. Students and scholars of comparative African government and African constitutional and jurisprudential studies will find this volume valuable.

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