State, civil society and apartheid in South Africa: An examination of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the interaction of state and civil society as manifested by the South African state in its relationship with a prominent church, the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), over a sixty year period. The research addresses two principal concerns. First, it examines how and why the NGK's relationship to the South African state changed in conjunction with the development of race policy from 1934 to 1994. Second, the case study engages with a broader body of literature on state-civil society relations that promotes discussion concerning the rise of civil society and its connection to democracy. The thesis developed in this dissertation is that state-civil society relations are more complex and ever-changing than normally ascertained. Additionally, civil society can be a detriment to the establishment of democracy in the event that components of civil society are coopted by exclusive, anti-democratic interests.