Symbolic politics and the electoral success of policy failure in South Africa

Abstract

A critical analysis of symbolic politics in South Africa is used in this article to explain an apparent anomaly in White political behaviour, namely, why the government succeeds in maintaining reformist public support despite its failure to achieve its publicly declared reform objectives, particularly in the field of constitutional change. It concludes that the government's ability to manipulate political symbols blunts reformism and makes effective government‐sponsored reform unlikely as it neutralises effective electoral pressure.

“I have no doubt that one day historians and others will ponder, mystified, at how a failed government could be rewarded time and again for its failures by increased electoral support.”

Letter‐writer The Argus