Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa

Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa PDF Author: James L. Gibson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521813905
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
In Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa, Gibson and Gouws investigate the degree to which the political culture of South Africa the beliefs, values, and attitudes toward politics held by ordinary people impedes or promotes the consolidation of democratic reform. One set of values is of particular concern for their research political tolerance. The authors contend that political tolerance is a crucial element of democratic political cultures in general, but that in the case of polyglot South Africa, tolerance is perhaps more important than any other democratic value.

Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa

Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa PDF Author: James L. Gibson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521813905
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa, Gibson and Gouws investigate the degree to which the political culture of South Africa the beliefs, values, and attitudes toward politics held by ordinary people impedes or promotes the consolidation of democratic reform. One set of values is of particular concern for their research political tolerance. The authors contend that political tolerance is a crucial element of democratic political cultures in general, but that in the case of polyglot South Africa, tolerance is perhaps more important than any other democratic value.

Overcoming Apartheid

Overcoming Apartheid PDF Author: James L. Gibson
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610442474
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
Perhaps no country in history has so directly and thoroughly confronted its past in an effort to shape its future as has South Africa. Working from the belief that understanding the past will help build a more peaceful and democratic future, South Africa has made a concerted, institutionalized effort to come to grips with its history of apartheid through its Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In Overcoming Apartheid, James L. Gibson provides the first systematic assessment of whether South Africa's truth and reconciliation process has been successful. Has the process allowed South Africa to let go of its painful past and move on? Or has it exacerbated racial tensions by revisiting painful human rights violations and granting amnesty to their perpetrators? Overcoming Apartheid reports on the largest and most comprehensive study of post-apartheid attitudes in South Africa to date, involving a representative sample of all major racial, ethnic, and linguistic groups. Grounding his analysis of truth in theories of collective memory, Gibson discovers that the process has been most successful in creating a common understanding of the nature of apartheid. His analysis then demonstrates how this common understanding is helping to foster reconciliation, as defined by the acceptance of basic principles of human rights and political tolerance, rejection of racial prejudice, and acceptance of the institutions of a new political order. Gibson identifies key elements in the process—such as acknowledging shared responsibility for atrocities of the past—that are essential if reconciliation is to move forward. He concludes that without the truth and reconciliation process, the prospects for a reconciled, democratic South Africa would diminish considerably. Gibson also speculates about whether the South African experience provides any lessons for other countries around the globe trying to overcome their repressive pasts. A groundbreaking work of social science research, Overcoming Apartheid is also a primer for utilizing innovative conceptual and methodological tools in analyzing truth processes throughout the world. It is sure to be a valuable resource for political scientists, social scientists, group relations theorists, and students of transitional justice and human rights.

Overcoming Historical Injustices

Overcoming Historical Injustices PDF Author: James L. Gibson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521517885
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
This book investigates the judgements South Africans make about the fairness of their country's past, focusing on historical land dispossessions.

The New Religious Intolerance

The New Religious Intolerance PDF Author: Martha C. Nussbaum
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674065913
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
What impulse prompted some newspapers to attribute the murder of 77 Norwegians to Islamic extremists, until it became evident that a right-wing Norwegian terrorist was the perpetrator? Why did Switzerland, a country of four minarets, vote to ban those structures? How did a proposed Muslim cultural center in lower Manhattan ignite a fevered political debate across the United States? In The New Religious Intolerance, Martha C. Nussbaum surveys such developments and identifies the fear behind these reactions. Drawing inspiration from philosophy, history, and literature, she suggests a route past this limiting response and toward a more equitable, imaginative, and free society. Fear, Nussbaum writes, is "more narcissistic than other emotions." Legitimate anxieties become distorted and displaced, driving laws and policies biased against those different from us. Overcoming intolerance requires consistent application of universal principles of respect for conscience. Just as important, it requires greater understanding. Nussbaum challenges us to embrace freedom of religious observance for all, extending to others what we demand for ourselves. She encourages us to expand our capacity for empathetic imagination by cultivating our curiosity, seeking friendship across religious lines, and establishing a consistent ethic of decency and civility. With this greater understanding and respect, Nussbaum argues, we can rise above the politics of fear and toward a more open and inclusive future.

Liberal Democracy and Peace in South Africa

Liberal Democracy and Peace in South Africa PDF Author: H. Kotzé
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230116329
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
South Africa's transition to democracy was met by the global audience with at first, disbelief, followed later by applause. After fifteen years of democracy big questions remain: has a more democratic regime also lead to a more liberal society? And has democracy made for a more peaceful society?

Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa PDF Author: François Du Bois (jurist.)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521882052
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
An assessment of the transitional processes aimed at creating a stable and just society in South Africa.

Public Opinion

Public Opinion PDF Author: Walter Lippmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Public opinion
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
In what is widely considered the most influential book ever written by Walter Lippmann, the late journalist and social critic provides a fundamental treatise on the nature of human information and communication. The work is divided into eight parts, covering such varied issues as stereotypes, image making, and organized intelligence. The study begins with an analysis of "the world outside and the pictures in our heads", a leitmotif that starts with issues of censorship and privacy, speed, words, and clarity, and ends with a careful survey of the modern newspaper. Lippmann's conclusions are as meaningful in a world of television and computers as in the earlier period when newspapers were dominant. Public Opinion is of enduring significance for communications scholars, historians, sociologists, and political scientists. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

What Holds Us Together

What Holds Us Together PDF Author: David Chidester
Publisher: HSRC Press
ISBN: 9780796920300
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Examines the effects of a range of global forces on local forms of identity, coherence, and cohesion. With contributions from intellectuals from business, organised labour, community organisations, government structures and academics, this book is useful for those interested in the wide-ranging effects of globalisation on South Africa.

Anatomy of a Miracle

Anatomy of a Miracle PDF Author: Patti Waldmeir
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813525822
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
The late 1980s were a dismal time inside South Africa. Mandela's African National Congress was banned. Thousands of ANC supporters were jailed without charge. Government hit squads assassinated and terrorized opponents of white rule. Ordinary South Africans, black and white, lived in a perpetual state of dread. Journalist Patti Waldmeir evokes this era of uncertainty in Anatomy of a Miracle, her comprehensive new book about the stunning and-historically speaking-swift tranformation of South Africa from white minority oligarchy to black-ruled democracy. Much that Waldmeir documents in this carefully researched and elegantly written book has been well reported in the press and in previous books. But what distinguishes her work is a reporter's attention to detail and a historian's sense of sweep and relevance. . . .Waldmeir has written a deeply reasoned book, but one that also acknowledges the power of human will and the tug of shared destiny."-Philadelphia Inquirer

South African Social Attitudes

South African Social Attitudes PDF Author: Udesh Pillay
Publisher: HSRC Press
ISBN: 9780796921178
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
A country’s attitudinal profile is as much a part of its social reality as are its demographic make-up, its culture and its distinctive social patterns. It helps to provide a nuanced picture of a country’s circumstances, its continuities and changes, its democratic health, and how it feels to live there. It also helps to measure the country's progress towards the achievement of its economic, social and political goals, based on the measurement of both 'objective' and 'subjective' realities. South African Social Attitudes: Changing Times, Diverse Voices is a new series aimed at providing an analysis of attitudes and values towards a wide range of social and political issues relevant to life in contemporary South African society. As the series develops, we hope that readers will be able to draw meaningful comparisons with the findings of previous years and thus develop a richer picture and deeper appreciation of changing South African social values. This, the first volume in the series, presents the public's responses during extensive nation-wide interviews conducted by the HSRC in late 2003. The findings are analysed in three thematic sections: the first provides an in-depth examination of race, class and politics; the second gives a critical assessment of the public's perceptions of poverty, inequality and service delivery, and the last explores societal values such as partner violence and moral attitudes. South African Social Attitudes is essential reading for anyone seeking a guide to contemporary social or political issues and debates. It should prove an indispensable tool not only for government policy-makers, social scientists and students, but also for general readers wishing to gain a better understanding of their fellow citizens and themselves.