Download or read book The Politics of Transition written by Richard Spitz and published by Witwatersrand University Press Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the early 1990s, South Africans kept a close eye on the media coverage of South Africa's negotiated transition to democracy. Likened to a soap opera by some, the negotiations featured violent interlopers, dramatic walkouts, alliances and, somehow, a fortunate conclusion in the form of the Interim Constitution and Bill of Rights. The importance of the negotiating process and the Interim Constitution itself should not be underestimated, however, in relation to their longer-term influence over the form of democracy currently enjoyed in South Africa. In this brave publication, Spitz and Chaskalson examine the politics behind the Kempton Park negotiations and the Interim Constitution, and the influence that these have had on the subsequent consolidation of a South African democracy.