The fight for Liberal Democracy in South Africa and across the World

18 June 2023

This is a somewhat (slightly) longer read than my usual. The topic is huge and complicated and I've tried to strip it down as much as I can in the time available. So let's get to it.

There has been a spate of commentary on 'Liberalism' recently in the media. It useful to start with some common understanding of how 'liberalism' came about.

This entails a brief digression into its origins in human nature as expressed within different times in history and different contexts. With that as a frame of reference we have a basis for exploring its potential role in the politics of a South African renaissance.

Origins

Liberalism, like democracy, is a set of ideas and arrangements latent in human society which eventually emerged to compete with older forms of social organisation. In short, its roots go way back into basic human biology and pre-history.

But the reality of most of recorded history has been that of tyranny and oppression set in a zero-sum social contexts. Outside of kin and clan, human interactions were fraught with the potential for exploitation and oppression in resource-scarce environments.

One significant VERY abbreviated explanation for the rise of Western liberalism over the past few centuries runs as follows:

In the complex, competitive, open environment of Europe in the past 5 centuries or so it became increasing difficult for traditional elites to monopolise wealth and power and still compete in the European arena. The common man asserted his aspirations with increasing force and success. Democracy became the political institutionalised expression of this process within a liberal value system.

By the third quarter of the 20th century this process appeared to have been consolidated by the overwhelming Allied victory in WW2 and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.

Liberal democracy had demonstrated not only its moral appeal to the oppressed masses but its superiority in technological and cultural innovation, economic performance and in improving the quality of life of its citizens immeasurably across the board. Equally important was its ability to project military power effectively against authoritarian opponents.

It's apogee was probably the 1990's, though even then ominous signs were emerging that the liberal tide was not going to sweep across the world as expected. If we are to use liberal democracy as a springboard to South African progress (or globally for that matter) it is useful to also understand the limitations and constraints of liberal democracy.

Problems

All moral and political systems come with inherent tensions and contradictions. This follows simply from the complexity of human motivations and interactions. Designing political solutions in the real world is absolutely different to engineering the James Webb space telescope for instance.

Liberal democracy with its emphasis on individual freedoms and rights immediately faced a number of interactive challenges. For example:

1. How to balance the welfare of the collective against the challenges of individuals or small groups seeking power and wealth.

2. How to motivate individualists in a common cause against enemies.

3. How to resolve disputes between different groups within society without rupturing the social fabric and violent conflict.

4. How to balance individual differences in ability and motivation against the need for social solidarity.

5. How to establish a secure democracy n the first place in the face of elites intent on clinging to the perks of power.

Overcoming these serious obstacles, especially point 5, required a great deal of political struggle and self-sacrifice over the 18th to 20th centuries. Those that succeeded established formal institutions and processes and developed informal norms which best fitted their particular society.

Examples include the Nordic social democracies, the highly federated Cantonese Swiss system, the individualistic American system with its emphasis on limiting centralised state power and the traditional monarchical parliamentary democracy of the UK - to name a few.

Core Liberalism

At its core lies a set of freedoms, the impartial rule of law, inclusivity, free and honest elections and the peaceful transfer of power. Less central but important to the success of democratic systems, is a sense of a broader collective (social) as well as personal responsibility and such personal virtues as restraint, tolerance and respect for truth and justice.

In thinking about liberal democracy it is vital to bear in mind that authoritarian-corrupt-predatory politics has been the norm for most of human history, for good reason. It is simply easier to control large numbers of people through fear and bribery than to achieve willing cooperation in large societies.

It was only with the promise of resource abundance created by the Industrial Revolution and new energy sources that existential dread lessened sufficiently in Western societies to take the plunge into the uncertainties, complexities and trade-offs of democratic governance.

And it required time for societies and individuals to develop the institutions and skills necessary to negotiate the complex dynamics of relatively non-coercive, large-scale, democratic governance.

South Africa

This story is relevant to the South African situation. Firstly, it takes time, effort and trade-offs of various kinds (ideological, political, economic) to negotiate local history and context on the road to a functional democracy. It's no job for the easily distracted or the shortsighted.

It's widely agreed that South Africa has never been seriously governed within a functional democratic dispensation. Prior to 1994 we did incorporate elements of a parliamentary democracy but limited to only a section of the population and subject to constant gerrymandering of different kinds to achieve otherwise unattainable political control.

Subsequent to 1994 and the enfranchisement of the whole South African population, our restorative democratic constitution became the target of so-called 'Marxists' within the ANC and political entrepreneurs alike.

Despite broad popular enthusiasm for the new political dispensation, the worsening failures of delivery by an inexperienced, increasingly corrupt and ideologically blinkered ruling party opened the door to the politics of violent protest to achieve transient goals and psychological relief from grinding poverty and dashed (probably unrealistic) expectations.

Even the welcome emergence of a black middle and upper socio-economic class has been partly subverted by the non-democratic and corrupt means used.

Unfortunately, the unrealistic and self-congratulatory rhetoric of 'liberation', stoked by fantasies of instant wealth set against the grim realities, inevitably gave way to anger and despair. Nobody told the masses of South Africa that the climb out of poverty and backwardness could take generations even under optimal governance.

Anger at the betrayal of unrealistic hopes, the corruption of the new Black elites and perceived white (and other minority) complacency, could be diverted into ethnic grievance and became fertile soil for the politic of division, patronage and cronyism. One tragic consequence of these developments is the loss of faith in the possibility, and even desirability of liberal democracy across wide sections of our population both black and white. Another has been the entrenchment of an elite who will be difficult to dislodge.

None of this is unique to South Africa. The story has not been written and the race has not yet been run. The Western World is facing a crisis with enormous consequences at stake. There is everything to fight for and it will need to be on multiple fronts.

To stick with the purely political for the moment, the 2024 election will probably NOT see a definitive national victory for liberal democracy. But with skill, fortitude and some luck, the DA and its partners can consolidate their dominance in the Western Cape and possibly extend that to significant urban regions elsewhere in coalition with smaller parties.

Liberal democrats must carry the fight to the opposition. There is little doubt as the ANC and its allies of convenience are only too aware, that liberal democracy will wipe the floor with them in a contest of performance and delivery.

Be ready for electoral manipulation, bribery, coercion, sabotage, racial mobilisation, red herrings, ideological smoke and mirrors and, finger-pointing.

The Democratic Alliance (remember that name) must not fall into the safety-first trap. South Africa has many groups with very different historical memories, cultures and life experiences. Liberal democracy, if it is to mean anything, has to include ALL South Africans.

We must build an inclusive South African identity to counter our divisions. It's the harder road no doubt but any other opens the door to more of the same old South African history we're trying to put behind us.

This battle for the soul of South Africa will need to be won on multiple beachheads, not only on the political front, though that is vital. There is place for everyone in the front lines.

Notes

1. Nomenclature is important to get right. 'Liberal' as in Liberal Democracy gets misinterpreted (often deliberately) in two differing ways. From the Left activist front it is treated as a synonym for patriarchy, white supremacy and Western imperialism and colonialism. From the Right it's a synonym for the Left Wokism and progressive authoritarianism. There is no precise definition which will satisfy everyone but the term makes reference to a set of important values which need defense.

2. Liberal democracy is a portmanteau term which can and is applied differently in different and changing circumstances. It's not a sacred slogan, dogma or a cult. If we visualise political systems as strung out between 3 extremes: Tyrannies, Anarchies and Democracies, it is part of the third cluster. Human brains are perfectly capable of understanding that life requires trade-offs between different values and the weights assigned to these will change over time and circumstance.

3. This article does not rest upon a fixed vision of the ultimate political dispensation in South Africa - eg. a highly centralised statist polity vs. a looser 'federated' union. I would go with anything which is a potentially stable improvement on the past.

4. The establishment of a functional democracy in South Africa is a process not a solution. We're already in the throes of that process. Let's step up our performance on multiple fronts.

Mike Berger