South Africa: conceptualising a politics of human‐oriented development

Abstract

This article reflects on what needs to be done for a human‐oriented development agenda in South Africa? It investigates the broader structural political condition, especially the configuration of power, under which human‐oriented development occurs. It does this by first analysing the diverse academic literature on democracy and development with a view to drawing out the political lessons from comparative development experiences. These are then applied to South Africa through an engagement with its academic, policy and organisational literature so as to determine how best to establish the political condition for a human‐oriented development trajectory. Finally, the article concludes by both drawing together the various threads of the analysis and reflecting on the political implications of the succession dispute. Its overall conclusion is that not only is human‐oriented development a product of a political process, but it also requires an intricate mix of representative and participatory democratic elements. This mix of representative and participatory democratic elements is meant to create a substantive uncertainty, which is the political foundation that generates the accountability between elites and their citizens so necessary for realising a human‐oriented development agenda. The political programme recommended then challenges the perspectives of those who view participatory and representative democracy as distinct political systems. The perspective advanced here suggests that it is the intricate mix of participatory and representative elements that enhances the accountability of political elites to their citizens.