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s un amen a ac evemen ocivilisation go back to the year1215, when the Mogno Corto, theGreat Charter of English liberties,was first issued by King lohn. Inthe 18th and tgth centuries ourmodern and substantiveunderstanding of the MognoCorto's "rule of law" in Englandinvalidated the formerlyunquestioned belief in andrespect for an assumed intentionof the Almighty God to confer allpower upon the King whosepolicy and laws thereby werefounded on religious legitimacy,as opposed to other rationalclaims of leadership.In South Africa a similar changein real values, in particularamongst the black people, wastriggered by mass education andthe liberalisation of labourrelations. Foreign observers whohave visited South Africa atregular intervals over the past 20years readily attest that somethingof a cultural revolution has takenplace. Many black schoolchildrentoday have a degree of knowledgeand a dimension of culturalinterest and understanding equalto that of the young nationalservicemen at whom they arethrowing stones. The culturalinterests of white South Africansare no longer those of their fathersor forefathers. Today they are lessand less enthusiastic aboutfighting a "war" which cannot bewon by military means and theobjectives of which have becomeconfused. Why, if the war is beingfought for the survival of Westernor Christian civilisation, are allthe Western nations and churchessupporting the enemy? Suchqueries by young servicemen areihe first signs of a state of mindwhich. a decade ago. broughtabout the dorn nfall of thePortuguese Empire. In the wordsthen of General A de Sninola:1.92

e en ave eenby the Western Nations." Thisdilemna is also felt by SouthAfrican intellectuals. Theiridentity crisis causes them tobecome estranged from the ruling6lite which is perceived as a staticblock whose political style andmake-up have remained basicallyunchanged for the past 40 years,

I... There is ever withinPorlioment itself opower of renovoting itsprinciples ond etfectingo self-reformqtion whichno other ploce ofgovernment hos evercontoined ... Publictroubles hove oftencolled upon this countryto look into itsconstitution. lf hos everbeen bettered by sucho revision.

,Edmund Burke

There are other noteworthysymptoms of the national crisiswhich are determinants for theselection of future constitutionaloptions. The competitionbetween neighbouring socialclasses and strata is challengingthe traditional socialdemarcations between "upper"and "lower" classes and between"white" and "black". Moreover,the economically privileged$oups and their leaders arefrustrated by the government'stardiness in implementing itsstated intentions and by itsinertia in implemenling the

of the law in jeopardy.In turn, the government iscaught up in the ties of itsinherited and traditional, but noIonger effective, mechanism ofgenerating Iegitimacy. Thepolitical ruling class itself hasalready abandoned thetraditional ideologies on whichthat legitimacy was founded. Thepreamble of the new 1983Constitution committed thesystem of government to "theequality of all under the law" andto the protection "of the humandignity, Iife, Iiberty and propertyof all in our midst". As thatConstitution did not give fulleffect to its own preamble, itbegan as transitory law.Change in real terms in SouthAfrica can be summarised bystating that individual economicand personal achievement israpidly replacing ethnicity as abasis for the class stratification ofour society, while the culturaland ethnical heterogenity ofgroups nevertheless persists.Under these circumstances, andgiven the strategic importance ofSouth Africa in internationalpolitics, the search forconstitutional options hasbecome part of an internal andinternational power struggle. Thepressure groups in South Africawhich are still excluded from thecountry's political system,together with their foreignsupporters, now perceive a fairchance of being able to "win itall". Their willingness tocompromise and to negotiateanything else but the surrender ofthe present political leadershipis decreasing b]'the day. On theother hand, the present politicalleadership knows that there is nofreedom of choice in theselection of partners of anY "newdeal". nor, indeed, as to whether

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Magna Carta,

norms. sometimes even withinthe constitution in accordancewith the degree of entrenchment.As such, due to the legal natureconferred upon them by anyintitial constituent authority,constitutional provisions are notmerely a "programme forgovernmental action", but arebinding and mandatory upon allpowers of the state; they establishenforceable imperatives whichare no longer at the freedisposition of any given simplemajority in parliament. "Rule oflaw" thus not only ensures thatgovernmental action is inaccordance with the law-madewill of a majority in parliament;but. moreover. it becomes thesafeguard that the majority's willis exercised only within adetermined framework ofprocedures and guaranteedvalue-principles."Constitutional supremacy" isthe only available mechanismwhich may prevent democraticrule from degenerating intomonopolised or socialistdemocracy, where "sns 1n61 -one vote" happens only once, i.e.in order to bring about the totalmonopolisation of democracy bya single group or one ideology. Itis not surprising that WestGermany opted very strongly infavour of constitutionalsupremacy. afler lhe experienceof a "Third Reich" which hadcome to power democraticallyand on the basis of a variant ofthe Westminster doctrine ofsupremacy of parliament.Turning to the question ofcentralised or decentraliseddecision-making, a large numberof variants exists. Constitutionsfounded on the ideology of amonopolised or socialistdemocracy, or upon the doctrineof the supremacy of parliament

194

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' o p IBuollnlllsuosJo Uos B saurotaq 'drqsrepeelleraue8 srq ;o .{1rroq}ne oqldq 'luaprsard e ssalun 'alllnoaxa

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sanctions against South r ca bythe American executive is, interms of American internal policY,a recent example of the negativeaspects which the difficultbalance of powers between thelegislature and a presidentialexecutive may produce. In thiscase, observers conclude that themain issue was not that ofsanctions, but rather to challengea President who had failed tosecure the majority in Congress.The semi-presidential systemof government is the mostsophisticated - but also themore complicated - option. Thenormal variants provide thatparliament appoints or dismissesthe head of government, or thegovernment as a whole. But ifparliament proves unable to doso, for instance by not being ableto agree on any candidates after adetermined period, the presidentis called upon by the constitutionto appoint a government. The"presidential government", or insome instances any government,will be vested with its ownIegislative competencies, theexercise of which will be deemedto have parliamentary approval,provided a majority in parliamentdoes not vote within a determinedperiod to abrogate such"executive legislation". Conflictsbetween parliament and thepresident are ultimately solved bythe electorate, as the president hasthe power to dissolve parliamentand call for new elections. Inaddition to the presidentialintervention in the appointmentand dismissal of governments, thesemi-presidential system ofgovernment will normally alsoprovide for specified veto powersof the president in the legislativeprocess, as well as for theintervention of a state council ora constitutional council or courtto adiudicate on differences196

e eore ca as s o a sem -presidential system ofgovernment is that ol a moresophisticated approach to thedoctrine of the separation anddivision of state powers. Itreplaces the outdated andsimplistic distinction betweenthe legislature, the executive andjudiciary by a comprehensivesystem of interdependentfunctions. In particular, theexecutive power becomes splitand is vested with duallegitimacy: that of parliament asa result of general elections, andthat of a president who is alsodirectly elected. Due to thedistribution and inter-relation ofthe parliamentary andpresidential competencies, thepresident is, in principle, aneutral power who remains inreserve, unless parliament isparalysed.If designed with the necessarycaution, a semi-presidentialsystem will add an additionalsafeguard to what was referred toearlier as the "supremacy of theconstitution". Moreover, thepresidential legitimacy, by itsclose interaction with thelegitimacy vested in parliament,will complement a party Politicalsystem in a very significant waY.Max Weber (1864-1920), thefather of modern social science,distinguished between threepillars of political legitimacy:tradition, reason, and leadershipauthority (or "charisma"). Thesemi-presidential system ofgovernment, together with thesupremacy of the consititution,will facilitate activating all threeelements: tradition through PartYpolitics, reason through theentrenched constitutionalguarantees, and the authoritY ofpersonal leadership in the personof the president.The remainins and final issue

e case o ou r ca. einstruments available range fromcollective minority protection(e.g. by granting certain culturaland group rights) to specificinstitutional arrangements, suchas consociation, federation,regional autonomy,confederation and partition.Racial integration. it issubmitted, is not a constitutionaloption as such, but merely apossible long-term result of anygiven option.Collective minority protectionby means of mere cultural or$oup rights has never provedadequate, and in continentalEurope the system was the majorcausc of two world wars.Zimbabwe is one example: here aguaranteed number of "white"seats merely adds ridicule to theimpotency of white interests.Individual and group rights areleft at the mercy of the majoritygroups, unless their enforcementis effectively guaranteed byinstitutional arrangements.

Eff ective institutionalarrangements, on the other hand,are difficult to find, when there isa marked disparity in numbersbetween the various populationgroups. On a simple "one man -one vote" basis, a small minoritycannot perceive a chance of everinfluencing government policiesbecause in practice it is not in aposition to carry any weight inelections. Being thus excludedfrom an opportunity ofmeaninglul participation, such aminority will also loseconfidence in any majoritYgovernment. The majoritYgovernment, in turn, will not fearthe possibility of replacement bYa future majority made uP insuch a way that it would includerepresentation of the ethnicallYor otherwise isolated minoritY.The maiority government, in

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IoaJ ]ou plno.,!\ 'suorlrpuoc qcns

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nego a e , mp emen a on oregional and local autonomy andvarious degrees of self-government.The scope of self-governmentthere ranges from ordinaryprovincial administration to theestablishment of own regionallegislative assemblies andexecutives, as well asrepresentation and various typesof veto powers at centralgovernment level. As in the WestGerman constitution oi 1949,these guarantees of self-government are entrenched inthe constitution and are subjectto judicial revienr. The "local andregional option" is, therefore, apragmatic and flexible approachto the needs of protection ofminority interests from majoritydomination. Moreover, regionaland Iocal self-government canaccommodate a high degree ofdiversity in a given societywithout restraining excessivelythe political powers of themajority groups.A confederation is distinguishedfrom a federation by the lack ofjurisdiction of the central organsin the individual member states.It is more than a mere alliance, asit prorzides for central organs inwhich the common will of memberstates can find expression. Clearly,a confederation provides for a veryhigh degree of protection of thesingle member states hom an1'"confederate" majority domination.As in the case of a federation,however, matters becomecomplicated when minorities aregeographicall}r d1tO".t"O.Partitioning is one furtheroption whir;h has been suggestedfor South ,\frica. But thedisruption of national unitycaused by partition and thequestion of economic viability ofnew states caused by partitionpolicies, as well as internationalrecognition would make it198

o succee n ou r ca. nesuch plan which - curiouslyenough - originated from DrVon der Ropp of the liberalGerman "stiftung Politik undWissenschaft", estimated that atleast 4,6 million people wouldhave to be "resettled" to providefor a clear-cut territorial andethnic partitioning of SouthAfrica. The tragedy of the"resettlement" of some15 million Germans after WorldWar II can hardly be accepted asan example to be followed inSouth Africa.The conclusion from this briefdiscourse on variousconstitutional options is that theproblems of South Africa are notunsurmountable. The decisionregarding options should beguided by the purposes to beachieved. Those purposes willhave to be defined in accordancewith the basic functions of aconstitution. The most modest ofthese functions would be: toprovide for the necessarylegitimacy of government; tofacilitate communityidentification with thargovernment by all citizens; tomaintain peace and orderwithout a need for excessivepolice action:to satisfy basicneeds through economicdevelopment; and to ensure atIeast a minimum degree both ofdistributive justice andindividual freedom. Theconsensus seen emerging during1985 appears to indicate that aconstituent agreement may wellbe possible along the lines ofconstitutional supremacy whichwould entrench a federaldispensation rvith the inclusionof a high degree of local andregional autonomy and self-gorrernment for minority groups,as well as a s1,5lsm of enforceablevalue principles expressed in a

rea es o ou ,have to be either presidential orsemi-presidential.As was pointed out at thebeginning, however, theconstituent strategies may wellbecome more important than theconstitutional optionsthemselves. Constitutionaloptions will be the result of thepolicies adopted in regard toconstitution making. One of theprimary objectives of suchpolicies must be to overcome thenatural mistrust of those whohave long been excluded frompolitical participation, as well asto ward-off the internationalperception of a lack of realauthority and legitimacycurrently at the basis of allpresent government action.The South African governmentin effect acknon'ledged the needto broaden its basis of politicallegitimacy, first by enacting anew constitution in 1983, andmore recentli,, by committingitself to negotiations with allinterested black leaders preparedto reject violence as a vehicle oftheir political aims. Animportant sector of South Africanbusiness, as well as the country'smajor trading partners, arebeginning to accept thatnegotiations should be enteredinto under any circumstances,even if that means that the ANCand the UDF would dictate thepre-conditions and the agendafor such negotiations. Therecently implementedinternational economic boYcottof South Africa, together withsevere punitive action by SouthAfrica's major private creditors,have added a nert' andparticularlS' serious dimension tothe question of negotiations forthe purpose of initiating someconstituent process. However,the ANC demands that "apartheid

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