{"title":"Marking Constitutional Transitions","authors":"Rosalind Dixon, T. Roux","doi":"10.1017/9781108767859.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767859.004","url":null,"abstract":"South Africa is often seen as one of the most successful recent instances of constitutional implementation: after decades of authoritarian, racially discriminatory rule under apartheid, its 1996 Constitution established a system of multi-party democracy and rights-based constitutionalism. In the first ten years of democracy, the African National Congress (ANC) government passed a range of transformational statutes that re-moralized the legal system and began to address the consequences of past economic exploitation and discrimination. From a new, more worker-friendly industrial relations regime, to land reform, and administrative justice, the Constitution’s vision for a just legal and political order was given concrete legislative form. To be sure, in the second decade of democracy, from around 2008, the ANC’s reputation as the driver of social and economic transformation began to decline, and the wheels have come off the South African democratic miracle to a certain extent. But the Constitution has not been substantially amended during this period, and it remains at the center of public discussion about how to restore the democratic system to health. \u0000This chapter suggests that one important explanation for this experience lies in the degree to which key actors – such as the South African Constitutional Court – have implemented constitutional transformation imperatives in ways that are sensitive to the broader political context, particularly the context of political (non-)competition or dominant-party democracy. Initially, the chapter argues, the Court adopted a restrained role that avoided direct confrontations with the ANC government, and sought to encourage legislative and executive responsibility for constitutional implementation (the first constitutional period). Over time, as the ANC became less committed to the constitutional project, the Court gradually assumed a more active role in encouraging political pluralism and accountability, both within the ANC and more broadly (the second constitutional period). \u0000Despite these efforts, the project of constitutional implementation in South Africa clearly remains incomplete. As a recent collection we edited documents, South Africa continues to grapple with problems of endemic corruption, the non-delivery of key services, and sexual and other violence. The ANC’s ongoing electoral dominance means that it is in many ways part of the problem rather than the solution. Entrenched in power for more than twenty years, the ANC has been able to take control of nominally independent state institutions and turn them to its not always benign purposes. Worse than this, overwhelming evidence is now emerging that the currently dominant faction within the ANC, with President Jacob Zuma at its head, has been involved in a systematically corrupt relationship with powerful business interests. This has disabled state organs from properly implementing constitutionally-mandated programs. \u0000In light of these developments","PeriodicalId":448705,"journal":{"name":"From Parchment to Practice","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127802292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Long Road Ahead","authors":"C. Flores","doi":"10.1017/9781108767859.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767859.008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":448705,"journal":{"name":"From Parchment to Practice","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130510475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Institutional Development and the Role of Courts","authors":"","doi":"10.1017/9781108767859.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767859.010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":448705,"journal":{"name":"From Parchment to Practice","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114643065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Problem of Transformation in Constitutional Design","authors":"","doi":"10.1017/9781108767859.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108767859.002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":448705,"journal":{"name":"From Parchment to Practice","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130925778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}