Bargaining power: dependence capabilities and tactical options in South African politics

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research note is to outline a research agenda for the analysis of power relations within the ongoing bargaining process in South African politics. The chosen theoretical perspective, that of S. B. Bacharach and E.J. Lawler, is considered appropriate to the current South African context as it offers an analysis of bargaining relationships which precede specific negotiating events and extend beyond these events. By viewing the bargaining relationship as an enduring power struggle, and by drawing an analytical distinction between potential power, tactical action and bargained outcomes, a framework is presented within which the effect of specific tactics on outcomes, as well as on subsequent power relations, can be analysed. It also allows for a bargaining analysis of power and tactics which can extend from the apartheid era through to the post‐apartheid era in South Africa.