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In the 1980s South Africa's urban townships exploded into insurrection led by youth and residents' organisations that collectively became known as the civics movement. Ironically the movement has been unable to adapt to the role of a voluntary association in the liberal polity it helped create, and has great difficulty defining any alternative role. This volume charts the rise and fall of the movement in the transition to and consolidation of democracy in South Africa.
List of contents
List of Maps Foreword Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Notes on the Contributors Introduction: From Comrades to Citizens: The South African Civics Movement and the Transition to Democracy; J.Steinberg & G.Adler Survival and Resistance: Township Organisations and Nonviolent Direct Action; C.Bundy The Development of Strategic Thought in South Africa's Civic Movements, 1977-90; J.Seekings Hegemony, Democracy and Civil Society: Political Participation in Kwazakele Township, 1980-90; J.Cherry Fenced in by Ideas of Modernity: Land Struggles and Civic Activism in Namaqualand, 1980-93; S.Robins Civic Organisation in Alexandra in the 1990s: An Ethnographic Approach; J.Lucas A Place for Civics in a Liberal Democratic Polity? The Fate of Local Institutions of Resistance after Apartheid; J.Steinberg After Apartheid: Civic Organisations in the 'New' South Africa; J.Seekings Bibliography Index
