Assignment 1: Module 1 & Module 2

Consider the list of key questions provided for both Module 1 and Module 2.

Select any key question from Module 1, and any key question from Module 2 (two key questions in total).

Write a short essay in which you explain your own perspectives, thoughts, opinions and ideas about the two key questions that you have selected. In your essay you should refer to the reading material which you have read for these two modules, and discuss some of what you have learned from this reading material. You can also discuss whether you agree or disagree with the positions/views of the authors of each reading, and why.

In your assignment you should clearly state WHICH key questions you have selected to address in your essay. Your essay/assignment should be no shorter than 2 pages, and no longer than 4 pages.

Also, please include the following at the top of the first page:

  • The assignment number (ie. “Assignment 1”)
  • Your full name and surname.

KEY QUESTIONS for Module 1

  1. Did South Africa adopt a ‘low intensity democracy’ framework in 1994? Explain your answer by giving concrete examples.
  1. Was any other outcome, other than the kind of negotiated settlement that happened, possible in the early 1990s?
  1. Is a corporatist ‘social contract’ between labour, state and capital(for example, as in Germany, Sweden) beneficial or detrimental to working class interests?
  1. Did the leadership of the Alliance (the ANC/SACP/COSATU) hijack the process of drawing up the RDP and if so, how?

KEY QUESTIONS for Module 2

  1. What are the key fundamentals (policy components) of GEAR and why are they problematic for the workers and poor?
  1. What does COSATU argue should be the main pillars in the struggle for social equity? Based on those pillars, what in your opinion is the biggest socio-economic problem in South Africa?
  1. Why do you think the ANC embraced/accepted privatisation as one of its most crucial policy tools from the mid-1990s onwards?
  1. Why do you think left/progressive forces in South Africa (for example, unions and the SACP) were unable to stop the ANC/ government from pursuing neoliberal economic policies in the 1990s?

 

Course Outline