Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
This study focuses on the political theory of Michael Oakeshott in whose work we
find a comprehensive and coherent theoretical understanding of the modern state
and government. The modern state, according to Oakeshott, possesses a dual
character because it entails a synthesis between what he calls an enterprise
association understanding of the state and a civil association understanding. Both
of these co-exist in the modern appreciation of the state, with the one ameliorating
the excesses of the other. Oakeshott believes this duality provides the best
possible framework for a theoretical appraisal of the modern state. Based on this
framework the unique character of an individual state, such as South Africa, can
be assessed in terms of the position of its contingent understanding in relation to
these two different views.
In his consideration of this hybrid character of the state, Oakeshott notes that the
rationalistically inclined enterprise association view currently seems to dominate
within the field of politics. Such a dominance, if pushed too far, would undermine
the coherence of the modern state, whose stability depends on the continued coexistence
of both a civil and an enterprise understanding.
In this study, the post-1994 ANC government in South Africa will be appraised in
light of Oakeshott’s understanding of the modern state. The question as to the
dominance, or not, of an enterprise association view of the state and government
within the ANC will be assessed. Consideration will be given to the ANC’s
understanding of its role and function as government and of its view of the
broader association called the South African state. Here I will assess the role and
influence of historical circumstances, and also, those key ideas that give
intellectual organisation to ANC politics and inform both the responsibilities that
the ANC feels it has to fulfil and the goals that it sets for itself and for the society
at large. Finally, the implications of the identified enterprise character of the ANC
government will be assessed in terms of its impact on the broader South African
state and society.