Background
This study begins with the premise that CMs are important channels for the state to work collaboratively and productively, bargain and make compromises with interest groups to promote a particular policy agenda. The dominant literature on state-society relations, especially by sociologists and political scientists, has tended to focus mostly on states' interactions with societal actors to promote a particular model of accumulation. As a result, not much emphasis has been given to states' interaction with interest groups to effect redress/redistribution. This study posits that states' relations with societal actors are important channels to address past socio-economic injustices, and in so doing can enhance the capacity of the state to regulate private capital. It is, therefore, located within what Mick Moore (2006) refers to as the ‘influence-network' approach to state capacity where the state negotiates and enters into agreements with a whole range of societal actors in the resolution of public policy problems. In this respect, for the state to be able to draw effectively on the deliberations and recommendations of CMs, it requires in-house capacity to analyse information on the basis of which to formulate its policy positions, bargain and negotiate with societal actors, as well resolve collective action problems through non-state actors.
Objectives
This research project seeks to examine whether consultative mechanisms (CMs) enhance the capacity of the South African state to effect redress and promote inclusive development through black economic empowerment. CMs are defined here as structures of engagement between state and societal actors and take the form of single- iss ue (sectoral) mechanisms and those focused on multiple issues.
Given the nature of the research question, the study will be comparative in nature, focusing on state redistributive capacity in the financial and mining sectors. To this end it will examine the contribution of South Africa's National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) – a multi- iss ue national CM – with a particular focus on its financial and mining sector summits and two single- iss ue sectoral CMs – the forum that negotiated and drafted a charter for the mining sector, and the forum that did this for the financial sector, which have focused exclusively on redress.
There are two main research questions and several sub questions for this project:
-
Do CMs enhance the redistributive capacity of the state to effect redress through black economic empowerment?
-
How effective are single- iss ue based and multiple-issue CMs in enhancing state redistributive capacity in the finance and mining sectors?
Sub-questions:
a) Is it easier for single- iss ue CMs to reach agreement than multiple- iss ue CMs? If so, what are the factors that facilitate this process?
-
Are stakeholders more likely to abide by the contents of agreements reached through bargaining and negotiations in single-issue CMs or multiple issue CMs?
-
How does the state organize itself to deal with the outcomes of i) single- iss ue CMs versus multiple- iss ue CMs?
-
How does the state mobilize and utilize resources (human and material) to engage in single- iss ue versus multiple- iss ue CMs. How does each impact on outcomes?
-
How does each model impact upon implementation: are the outcomes of one more implementable than the other? What accounts for this?
Answering these questions will be important in order to understand how different types of CMs help enhance state capacity to effect redress, and how far CMs make a difference to economic empowerment. In focusing on black economic empowerment (BEE) the dependent variables will be black equity ownership, BEE transactions, black directorships (black executive and non-executive directors), management positions and employment equity in the workplace.
Methodology
The research will begin with a literature review focusing on three branches of scholarship, namely:
-
Developing the concept of redistributive capacity and state redress through a wider review of the comparative literature on affirmative action and economic empowerment
-
Political economy literature on consultative mechanisms, participation and policy networks in South Africa
-
Strategies for black economic empowerment, with a particular focus on the finance and mining sectors in South Africa
For the scoping study qualitative data on will be gathered from:
-
Content analysis of the documents and files of the CMs and materials produced by the various stakeholders (government, industry groups, trade unions, and NGOs) on the finance and mining sectors
-
Media, including newspapers and periodicals on CMs and black economic empowerment strategies in the two sectors
-
Interviews with key representatives of the key stakeholders in the mining and finance sectors. The fieldwork will focus on examining the nature of the two types of consultative mechanisms that are the focus of this study, their characteristics, the key actors and their relationships, and how the state organises itself in engaging each forum type and implements the results of their deliberations and recommendations.
Depending on the outcome of the scoping work, further research would entail quantitative data collection, a further set of more extensive interviews (possibly using a questionnaire survey) and analysis of research results, presentation of findings at an international conference, and preparation of an article for journal publication. In this stage of the research, quantitative data on black equity ownership will be collected (both pre- and post- the institution of these CMs) as well as the employment equity position in selected companies operating in the financial and mining sectors. The data will be collected from, among others, the following sources: Annual Reports on Employment Equity compiled by the Department/Ministry of Labour; records from the Registrar of Companies and the Jo hannesburg Stock Exchange; and reports compiled by the BEE Rating Companies, etc. This will enable us to determine whether the objectives of the negotiations and consultations are being achieved.
Researchers
Omano Edigheji (Main Researcher) - Centre of Policy Studies (CPS), South Africa
Top
|
