THE NEW (FINAL) SOUTH-AFRICAN CONSTITUTION

Democratization in the South African context is essentially a state-bu ilding process, in which constitution-making plays an important part. The transition from apartheid manifested itself in two concurrent proc esses, namely establishing a power-sharing, interim period as well as negotiating a new constitution. The first phase in the transition proc ess, consisting of two phases, to a large extent has determined the ou tcome of the final constitution in the form of 34 Constitutional Princ iples. The second phase is directed by the elected Constitutional Asse mbly (CA), which has become an institutionalized process largely detac hed from the population. Two concurrent processes in the final transit ional phase, in addition to the CA, are the quest for white, ethnic se lf-determination deliberated by the statutory Volkstaat Council, and t he call for international mediation by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) . Mediation is viewed by the IFP as an alternative negotiating strateg y in order to circumvent the CA in which it has a weak bargaining posi tion. The negotiating process has also been characterized by political violence in which the IFP is prominent. Violence in the South African context could be viewed as symptomatic of the transition (political d evelopment), but could also be interpreted as part of a negotiating st rategy.