Towards Socio-Economic Citizenship: The Case of South Africa.

The South African transition from Apartheid to democracy presented the government with the challenge of overcoming a legacy of racism which left a significant part of its population politically marginalized. Today, the lives of a large majority of South Africans have not improved, and they feel abandoned by the government they helped put into power. This essay engages in the recognition versus redistribution debate most closely aligned with Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser, who have shown the limits of government in relation to the achievement of social justice and self-fulfillment. By exploring these authors with regards to the South African context, it becomes clear that there must be more attention paid to the political realm itself, both as a source of injustice but also as a potential remedy for existing injustices. In this way, state-building, social justice, and democracy are inextricably linked. This paper will argue that the struggle in the lives of ordinary South Africans is one for socio-economic citizenship. This can be realized through a rights-based liberalism which will increase political representation of oppressed groups. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]