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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Transformasie en die regstaat (burgerstaat): tussen die Scylla van die herstel van begane onreg en die Charybdis van 'n ondemokratiese magstaatinhoud wat aan die slagspreuk 'verteenwoordigend van die demografie' gegee word |
| Author: | Strauss, D.F.M. |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Periodical: | Tydskrif vir geesteswetenskappe |
| Volume: | 48 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 58-77 |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | constitutional history democracy political philosophy |
| Abstract: | Against the background of traditional theories of the State focused on the issue of power and justice this article sets out to highlight the totalitarian and absolutistic pitfalls present in the notion of 'majority rule'. Traditional power-State theories (like that of Hobbes) are shown to have infected the theories of those (like Rousseau) who did want to argue for a just State (a constitutional State under the rule of law). This mixed legacy pertains both to the political history of South Africa and to its recent constitutional transition in and after 1994. The concept of 'democracy' is 'downsized' to the constitutionally arranged election process, connected to the right of citizens to put a government in office. But it is argued that this arrangement presupposes the office of government and that the competencies (power) entailed in this office cannot be deduced from those who are actually subjected to it, namely the citizens as subjects within such a State. Since the majority cannot be the source of justice, invoking it as a yardstick to an eventual truly just State may result in a situation where the aim is defeated by the means. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and Afrikaans, text in Afrikaans. [Journal abstract] |
