Contestation at a South African University through the Lens of Democratic Theory: Five Exercises

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), has been a prominent site of student protests since 2015. In the midst of the conflicts various Wits actors claimed or implied a special democratic legitimacy. This article examines five exercises at Wits: the election of student representati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoria (Pietermaritzburg) 2018-03, Vol.65 (154), p.122-151
Main Author: Glaser, Daryl
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actors
Analysis
College students
Colleges & universities
Democracy
Demonstrations & protests
Dimensional analysis
Elections
Equality
Legitimacy
Mediation
Participation
Petition
Political pluralism
Protest movements
Representation
South Africa
Strength
Student protests
Students
Universities and colleges
Youth movements
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Summary:The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), has been a prominent site of student protests since 2015. In the midst of the conflicts various Wits actors claimed or implied a special democratic legitimacy. This article examines five exercises at Wits: the election of student representatives, the student protest movement, a student petition, a management-initiated poll and an aborted General Assembly. These exercises are scrutinised and scored along six democratic dimensions: directness, participation, representation, pluralism, equality and deliberation. According to the weak thesis, this dimensional analysis reveals a landscape of democratic complexity that belies the claim of any one actor to a superior democratic model. According to the strong thesis, there is a particular problem with democratic practices that score weakly in terms of representation. The weakness of the ‘fallist’ student movement in the representation dimension undercuts its claim to prefigure a superior form of comprehensive university-wide democracy.
ISSN:0040-5817
1558-5816
DOI:10.3167/th.2018.6515406