The Political Economy of Modern South Africa

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1987 this book argues that South African politics reflect the changing ways in which the region has been incorporated into the world economy. It traces the effects of a process of industrialisation under the dominance of mining on the other sectors of the economy, and on the evolution of the class structure. It shows how a coercive labour system influenced the definition of political and social rights in racial terms and profoundly influenced the development of authoritarian controls over blacks in the urban and rural areas from the 1920s onwards. The book includes an essay on the different strands in the reform movement and speculates about the social and political forces which underlined the political changes which began to take place during the mid-1970s.