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Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613796423434240 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Francke, Andrea Bridgette |
| author2 | De Jager, Nicola |
| author_browse | De Jager, Nicola Francke, Andrea Bridgette |
| author_facet | De Jager, Nicola Francke, Andrea Bridgette |
| author_sort | Francke, Andrea Bridgette |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132372 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:50.126Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132372 Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa Francke, Andrea Bridgette De Jager, Nicola Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science. African National Congress Political parties -- South Africa One-party systems -- South Africa Democracy -- South Africa Political stability -- South Africa Dominant-party systems -- South Africa South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- Elections -- South Africa Political leadership -- South Africa Constitutional amendments -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Francke, A. B. 2025. Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: An analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/2af98d9a-c3d6-48b7-bcdd-f2d9cd58676e ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The transition to democracy for many Southern African nation-states has resulted in one-party dominance. A pitfall of one-party dominance is that it tends to come with poor service delivery, patronage and corruption. This has been seen in South Africa with the one-party dominance of the African National Congress (ANC). Service delivery is dismal, job security has become a product of political affiliation, and the nation-state has experienced state capture. The purpose of this thesis was to understand how the ANC had been able to maintain its dominance despite South Africa experiencing state capture, increasing levels of unemployment and weak socio-economic development. The thesis also sought to understand whether the ANC might be losing its dominance. This in turn raised two questions: What explains the continued one-party dominance of the African National Congress in South Africa from 1994 until 2019? and Are there indicators that the African National Congress’s dominance may be in decline? To answer these questions the thesis employed qualitative research, using a case study research design and collecting data from secondary sources. Kenneth F. Greene’s resource theory in his 2007 book Why Dominant Parties Lose: Mexico’s Democratization in Comparative Politics Theory was used as the theoretical framework. According to Greene’s resource theory, dominance persists as long as the dominant party can deploy an acquiescent bureaucracy and enlarge the state sector, in particular the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), so as to repurpose state resources for party ends. However, dominance declines once SOEs are privatised, and the state sector is professionalised – hence reducing the dominant party’s access to state resources. The key findings of this thesis are threefold. Firstly, the ANC did experience one-party dominance in South Africa as it won the first six consecutive national elections with a majority since 1994. The ANC justified the enlarging of the state sector and appointing loyal deployees under the guise of ‘transformation’. Through supposed systematic transformation, the ANC was enabled to deploy cadres, enlarge the state sector through policy initiatives and gain access to SOEs, which meant that SOEs could be repurposed for party ends as well as for private interests. Secondly, the ANC saw a decline in its electoral dominance in 2024 as the political party achieved less than 50% of the national election vote count. The thesis found that the decline in social support was likely a not unexpected response to poor governance and state capture. In reaction, the ANC is expected (and has begun) to professionalise the public sector and privatise sections of the SOEs. Thirdly, the privatisation of SOEs is thus mostly a recent occurrence. This makes it hard to argue conclusively that privatisation has led to the ANC’s diminishing dominance. It is nevertheless expected that privatisation will, over time, limit the ANC’s unhindered access to state resources. This thesis accordingly contends that the current evident decline in dominance is the aftermath of the ANC’s own mismanagement of SOEs and poor governance. This will likely lead to the further erosion of the political party’s dominance. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar nie. Masters 2025-06-05T08:07:09Z 2025-06-05T08:07:09Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132372 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 129 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | African National Congress Political parties -- South Africa One-party systems -- South Africa Democracy -- South Africa Political stability -- South Africa Dominant-party systems -- South Africa South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- Elections -- South Africa Political leadership -- South Africa Constitutional amendments -- South Africa UCTD Francke, Andrea Bridgette Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa |
| title | Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa |
| title_full | Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa |
| title_short | Endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes: an analysis of the ANC’s one-party dominance in South Africa |
| title_sort | endurance and decline of dominance in democratic regimes an analysis of the anc s one party dominance in south africa |
| topic | African National Congress Political parties -- South Africa One-party systems -- South Africa Democracy -- South Africa Political stability -- South Africa Dominant-party systems -- South Africa South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- Elections -- South Africa Political leadership -- South Africa Constitutional amendments -- South Africa UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132372 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT franckeandreabridgette enduranceanddeclineofdominanceindemocraticregimesananalysisoftheancsonepartydominanceinsouthafrica |