Political restructuring, capital accumulation and the ‘coming corporatism’ in South Africa: some theoretical considerations

ABSTRACT

This article explores the theoretical correlation between consociationalism and corporatism, and relates recent tendencies in the political economy and the restructuring, along consociational lines, of forms of political representation and state intervention in South Africa with corporatist developments. Different dimensions of the concept corporatism are analysed, and the author emphasises the way in which corporatist arrangements effect the balance of class forces in social formations. The author concludes by arguing that consociationalism and corporatism are complementary modes of political domination, and suggests that corporatism can be used to secure conditions for capital accumulation and to legitimate the social reproduction of capitalist relations in South Africa.