THREAT (AND OPPORTUNITY): POPULAR ACTION AND STATE RESPONSE IN THE DYNAMICS OF CONTENTIOUS ACTION

Abstract

As compared with the fiercely repressive 1970s, the 1980s opened more opportunities to South Africa's black activists. International support for their cause was rising, black educational enrollment was increasing, color bars on employment were disappearing, and black trade unions had become legal. The South African government's abortive attempt to coopt mixed race (Coloured) and Indian citizens through the creation of separate, subordinate parliaments, furthermore, made blanket repression more difficult for the state to manage. Still, up to the decade's end threats abounded. The Black Authorities Act (1983) spurred local councils to raise rents, evict defaulters, and raze illegally constructed shacks; governmental forces tightened their surveillance of militants; and in July 1985 beleaguered premier P. W. Botha declared a state of emergency.