Review: Africa: The Militarization of South African Politics
| Published date | 01 December 1986 |
| Date | 01 December 1986 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070208604100412 |
| Author | Robert D'A. Henderson |
| Subject Matter | Review |
892
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
most
welcome
addition
to
the
literature
on
international
organization
and
on
Africa.
Martin
Ira
Glassner/Southern
Connecticut
State
University
THE MILITARIZATION
OF
SOUTH
AFRICAN
POLITICS
Kenneth
W.
Grundy
Bloomington,
IN:
Indiana
University
Press,
1986,
x,
133pp,
us$18.95
Notwithstanding
the
title
of
his
most
recent
of
a
number of
excellent
studies
on
Southern
African
affairs,
Kenneth
Grundy's
central
focus
is
not
the
impact
that
two
decades
of
militarization
has
had
on
the
entire
population
of
South
Africa.
He does
discuss
though
the
mili-
tarization
of
the
white
society
(chapter
4)
in
terms
of
'a
process
rather
than
an
accomplished
fact,'
suggesting
some
of
its
more
observable
features
while
not defining
the concept
(p
58).
Choosing
a
narrower
focus,
Grundy
has
produced
an
in-depth
analysis
of
the
enhanced
role within
the
white-dominated
government
policy-making
process
of
an
evolving
'security
establishment'
under
the executive
state
president,
P.W.
Botha. In
setting the context,
he
provides
a
brief
but
lucid
introduction
to
the
white
Afrikaner
power
structure
(chapter
I),
followed
by
an
overview
of
the
growth
of
the
principal
state
instruments
of
'white'
South
African
security
(the
South
African Defence
Force
-
SADF
and
the South
African
Police
-
SAP)
and
their
strategic planning
for
'domestic
order'
(chapter
2).
But
the
major
strength
of
his
argument
lies
in
chapter
3,
entitled 'Centrali-
zation
of
state
power
and
the
centrality
of
the
security
establishment.'
Basically,
Grundy
argues
that
there
is
an
'undeniable
trend
toward
a
greater
reliance and
involvement
of
the
security
establishment
in
decision-making
and
policy
output'
(p
109).
Unlike
'militarization,'
he
provides
a
six-line
definition
of
his
conceptualization
of
'security
establishment'
(pp
5-6).
In
essence, he
is
concerned
with
Botha's
reorganizing
of
the
decisional
process
'to
enable
South
Africa
to
re-
spond
more
effectively
to
the problems
at
hand'
(p
1o9).
This
is
seen
as
essential to
maintaining
the
white
minority
control
despite
some
attempts
to
reduce
those
aspects
of
the
apartheid
system
of
racial
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