Engaging with Social Rights
Procedure, Participation and Democracy in South Africa's Second Wave

A new and comprehensive account of the South African Constitutional Court's social rights decisions.

Brian Ray (Author)

9781108446174, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 February 2018

393 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.59 kg

'The South African Constitutional Court has received international acclaim for enforcing socio-economic rights provisions in their Constitution. Brian Ray's impressive, well-written, and learned book examines those cases and various views (criticisms and defenses) as well as the Court's most recent 'second wave' of such cases. He proposes novel and sophisticated theories on how the Court should handle competing concerns such as separation of powers, the incredible poverty the nation faces, and various political considerations. This book is essential reading for all those who wish to keep up with the latest developments in the socio-economic rights area.' Mark Kende, Director, Drake University Constitutional Law Center

With a new and comprehensive account of the South African Constitutional Court's social rights decisions, Brian Ray argues that the Court's procedural enforcement approach has had significant but underappreciated effects on law and policy, and challenges the view that a stronger substantive standard of review is necessary to realize these rights. Drawing connections between the Court's widely acclaimed early decisions and the more recent second-wave cases, Ray explains that the Court has responded to the democratic legitimacy and institutional competence concerns that consistently constrain it by developing doctrines and remedial techniques that enable activists, civil society and local communities to press directly for rights-protective policies through structured, court-managed engagement processes. Engaging with Social Rights shows how those tools could be developed to make state institutions responsive to the needs of poor communities by giving those communities and their advocates consistent access to policy-making and planning processes.

1. Introduction
Part I. Justiciability and the First Wave: 2. The justiciability debate and the new constitution
3. The first wave cases
4. A 'curious divergence'
Part II. Procedure and the Second Wave: 5. The second-wave cases
6. Evictions and education
7. Patterns and possibilities in the second wave
Part III. Procedure's Potential: 8. The eviction model
9. Democratic engagement
10. Conclusion: real rights.

Subject Areas: Human rights & civil liberties law [LNDC], Constitutional & administrative law [LND], International human rights law [LBBR], Comparative law [LAM], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA], Human rights [JPVH]