Liberation movements in power : party & state in Southern Africa /

Southall (emer., sociology, Univ. of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) writes extensively on Southern Africa and is editor of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies. This work comparatively chronicles the progress of liberation movements in South Africa (African National Congress), Namibia (South West Africa People's Organization), and Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe African National Union--Patriotic Front, ZANU-PF) from challengers. Southall argues that following the collapse of the settler regimes, the liberation movements gained power through democratic elections only to establish "political machine" type of governance and, in the case of ZANU-PF, through the increased use of coercive means. He then explores the use of electoral politics, the penetration of the party mechanisms into the structures of the state and of civil society, and their relation to economic developments. He sees the socialist ideology of the early movements giving way to modern neoliberal capitalism. With meticulous detail and extensive documentation, Southall analyzes the theoretical and political environment of Southern Africa and the growth and development of the liberation movements. The thesis of the work is that the liberation movements are slowly succumbing to the complexities of the societies they have tried to mold and their own corruption. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections. R. M. Fulton emeritus, Northwest Missouri State University