Disrupting the South African parliament: performing opposition 1994–2010

Johnson, Rachel E.

Abstract

The article focuses on the most common form of institutionally punished disruption seen in South Africa's National Assembly since 1994: orders for individual MPs to withdraw from the chamber. The shifting dynamics of such “set-piece” dramatizations of opposition and their relationship with the established analyses of political opposition in post-apartheid South Africa, especially “dominant party democracy” theory are explored. There have been two main styles of disruptive performance in the National Assembly since 1994. Firstly, performances of perceived political marginalization, and secondly, performances that paradoxically lay claim to uphold parliamentary democracy through rule-breaking, which are termed performances of procedure-as-democracy. The article examines how opposition politicians have justified disruption and unpicks the symbolism of prominent incidents. The focus is upon the performance of disruption and its performative aspects, particular the articulation of race and gender. It is argued that performances of procedure-as-democracy are actually one of the principal means by which opposition political parties perform narratives of ANC dominance and as such require much more attention and critical engagement from political scholars interested in dominant party democracy.

Citation

Johnson, R. E. (2013). Disrupting the South African parliament: performing opposition 1994–2010. Democratization, 20(3), 478-500. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2013.786546

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 10, 2013
• Publication Date: May 28, 2013
• Deposit Date: Sep 15, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 20, 2015
• Journal: Democratization
• Print ISSN: 1351-0347
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-890X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 478-500
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2013.786546
• Keywords: Legislative disruption, Dominant party democracy, Opposition politics, South Africa, Performance, Performativity.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1420953