A more democratic South Africa now! Emerging black middle class and democracy in South Africa

Where does South Africa go? Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, the country has been ruled by the former liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANC). Formerly a beacon of hope for most South Africans, the perception of the party has changed. Striking miners, corruption scandals, alleged restrictions on the freedom of the media and cadre employment pose challenges to the rainbow nation and its democracy. But there is also a lot of hope around the Cape: the liberation of South Africa from apartheid gave way to a new generation of young South Africans the emerging black middle class. Well-educated and highly motivated to work and achieve, this group of people benefits from the lifted restrictions and new opportunities in post-apartheid South Africa. But will it also contribute to the consolidation and further development of democracy in the country? Research in western nations suggests that the middle class is fostering the development of democracy. But does this relation also hold for the emerging black middle class in South Africa? This study tries to shed some light on this extremely relevant and though neglected issue. It draws a picture of the emerging black middle class attitudes towards democracy and assesses how this group relates to democracy.

Autorentext

Tobias Erbert was born 1989 in Bremen. After a voluntary service in Botswana, he studied political science, public administration and South African history in Berlin and Cape Town. His academic interests are predominantly linked to issues of democracy and party politics in southern Africa, public administration in developing countries and conflict research.

Leseprobe
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Chapter 1., South Africa at the crossroad: continuing the democratic path?
19 years after the promising democratic change in South Africa, the countries challenges and disparities remain ubiquitous. The huge majority of black South Africans still lives in poverty, inequality has grown since the end of apartheid, service delivery is a permanent problem and democratic institutions are at least partly weak (Holden 2012: 95). However, the new South Africa is not only signified by the aggravation of disparities. Over the last years, the emergence of a black middle class became steadily more tangible and is today a mostly undisputed phenomenon (Schrire 2005: 271; Southall 2004: 539; Everatt 2011: 79). Some research has been conducted especially to determine definition criteria for and the size of a black middle class (Rivero et al. 2003; Southall 2004; Visagie, Posel 2011; Phadi, Ceruti 2011). The total middle class in South Africa included 29% black South Africans in 1994, while until 2011, their share had grown to 49.8% of the total middle class (Holden 2012: 226-227). In absolute numbers, the black middle class made up five million people in 2011 (Visagie, Posel 2011: 8, 17) while South Africa had a total black population of around 41 million people (Statistics SA 2011). Hence, approximately 8.2% of the black population group belongs to the black middle class.
Although there is research discussing the size of the black middle class in South Africa, neither exists a comprehensive knowledge about the black middle class' attitudes towards democracy nor is there a profound analysis to which extent the black middle class may contribute to democracy (Everatt 2011: 79-80; Southall 2004: 528). In order to narrow these obvious research gaps, this study asks the following research questions:
1) How does the emerging black middle class in South Africa understand democracy? And
2) How can the relation between the emerging black middle class and democracy be assessed or rather does the emerging black middle class in South Africa contribute to the strengthening of democracy in the country? While these questions are theoretically rooted in the existing research gap, they also bear a profound practical relevance. Currently, a discussion is under way regarding the risk of a slide into authoritarian rule in South Africa over the next several years (Ulfelder 2012). This risk is predominantly nurtured by the steadily expanding power of the governing African National Congress (ANC) which has ruled with huge majorities since the end of apartheid in 1994 (Giliomee et al. 2001: 161-162; Southall 2005: 67, 73).
As generally assumed, the middle class is positively related to the development of democracy (Lipset 1959: 83; Barro 1999: 171; Lu 2005: 171). These previous findings based on research in the western world lead to the assumption that also the black middle class in South Africa could be positively linked to the development of democracy. However, a limited body of literature feeds into the supposition that the relation between middle class and democracy in developing countries and particularly South Africa, might not be as merely positive as in the western world (Giliomee, Simkins 1999a: 3, 45; Schlemmer 1999: 287-288; ibid. 2005: 11). Therefore, to find out more about this opaque relation is important because of two reasons: theoretically, the relation between middle class and democracy is insufficiently substantiated for developing countries such as South Africa and needs further enquiry. Practically, due to the recent challenges to democracy in South Africa it appears useful to clarify if the emerging black middle class can be a pillar of democracy. To answer the arising research questions, this study is composed as follows: the second chapter regards the concepts of an emerging black middle class and democracy more in detail. Furthermore, the theoretical background of this study the assumed relation between middle class and d