Imaginaries of Freedom: How Imagined Futures Shaped South Africa’s Transition 
from Apartheid, 1976-1996

Soer, Elizabeth

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Imaginaries of Freedom: How Imagined Futures Shaped South Africa’s Transition from Apartheid, 1976-1996

Soer, E. (submitted). Imaginaries of Freedom: How Imagined Futures Shaped South Africa’s Transition from Apartheid, 1976-1996.

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Datensatz-Permalink: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-378B-7 Versions-Permalink: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-378C-6

Genre: Hochschulschrift

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Urheber:
Soer, Elizabeth¹, Autor

Affiliations:
1International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy, MPI for the Study of Societies, Max Planck Society, ou_1214550

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Zusammenfassung: This dissertation provides a historical sociology of the role of imagined futures during South Africa’s transition from apartheid. Since the transition was essentially a struggle over the future, it provides an apt opportunity to investigate why some imaginaries prevail over others, become hegemonic and influence policy- particularly economic policy. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources and a limited number of interviews, the dissertation investigates three sets of imagined futures. First, it focuses on the imaginaries of the Nationalist Party (NP) as it attempted to regain “promissory legitimacy” in the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. In collaboration with neoliberal academics, the NP attempted to secure white minority rule by promising a free-market future. In opposition to the NP’s authoritarian capitalism, the United Democratic Front (UDF) presented a vision of direct democracy in which people would have control over all aspects of their lives and would “share in the country’s wealth”. Moreover, many organisations affiliated to the UDF attempted to embody elements of their imagined futures thereby “making the future present”, which makes them an interesting case study of prefigurative politics. Finally, the dissertation investigates the ANC’s economic conversion from social-democracy to neoliberalism in the early 1990s. The imaginary of globalisation, propagated through scenario planning exercises and various conferences, played a critical role in this conversion. The power of this imaginary was at least partly related to its future-orientation and its supposed inevitability. This part of the dissertation highlights the intersections between imagined futures and global power relations in economic policy making in the Global South. In addition to providing new insights about South Africa’s transition, the dissertation aims to contribute to the theoretical canon on imagined futures by putting it into conversation with decolonial and postcolonial theory.

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Sprache(n): eng - English

Datum: Eingereicht: 2024

Publikationsstatus: Eingereicht

Seiten: 5, 286

Ort, Verlag, Ausgabe: Cologne : University of Cologne, final draft

Inhaltsverzeichnis: Introduction
2.
3.
(Re)Imagining the Future from the Global South
The temporal order of modernity/coloniality
Towards a historical sociology of imagined futures
Neoliberalism vs the NIEO in the struggle for the future
The imaginary of globalisation
Conclusion

1. Imagining the Free Market Future: The Origins of Glocalised Neoliberalism in South Africa
South Africa in the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) imagination
Jan Lombard: In the name of a free market future
Louw and Kendall: Dreaming of a world without democracy
Conclusion

2. The Politics of Making and Breaking Promises in the Late Apartheid Period
Making apartheid modern
Nationalist neoliberalism
The force of rising expectations
Conclusion

3. Uniting the Democratic Front: Imaginaries of Free Futures in the 1980s
Re-imagining the nation
The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and the (re)imagining of blackness
“The People Shall Govern!”: Imagining freedom as direct democracy
“The Future is a Workers’ Future”: The socialist future and the historical destiny of the working class
Allan Boesak’s black theology as a bricolage of imaginaries
Conclusion

4. Prefiguring People’s Power: Performing the Future in Anti-Apartheid Politics
Prefigurative politics and the future present
The schools of socialism
(Re)imagining the nation: Prefigurative politics and the performance of nationhood in the 1980s
Conclusion

5. Forecasting South Africa’s Future: Scenario Planning and the Spectre of Macroeconomic Populism
The Sunter Scenarios: The globalisation imaginary and the “rules of the game”
Nedcor’s neoliberal theology: Just trust the “magic of the market”
Mont Fleur: A story of fiscal discipline and flying flamingos
The end of the future
Conclusion

6. From Comrades to Capitalists: How South Africa’s Economic Future Was Reimagined
From nationalisation to the eMERGing neoliberal consensus
Reconstructing the Development Programme
GEARed towards globalisation
Conclusion

Conclusion
Theoretical contributions and conceptual expansions
Contemporary Implications
Suggestions for future research

Methodological Appendix
The Freedom Charter
Bibliography

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Art des Abschluß: Doktorarbeit