Summary

One of the most innovative aspects of South Africa's democratization has been the emergence of institutions and processes through which workers and unions may challenge the state and business to gain varying degrees of control over important economic decisions. These features are unprecedented in the old South Africa. Moreover, such institutions and processes are virtually unknown among developing countries undergoing democratization, and have few precedents among advanced industrial countries that have well-established systems of codetermination. Scholars and practitioners have focused on specific elements of these changes, such as the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) or the workplace forum provisions of the Labour Relations Act. But they have generally missed the fact that the changes have implications ranging from the factory floor to the national and societal level, and the extent to which labor has obtained strong decision-making and consultation rights. Taken together these features have the potential to deepen dramatically the political democracy won in 1994. The chapters in this volume have been written by academics, independent researchers, and researchers affiliated with labor. The contributions combine depth of research and critical appraisal with privileged insights into current policy developments.