THE IDEA OF THE ANC, a Jacana pocket book

139 pp., illus., paperback, Johannesburg, 2012

Anthony Butler explores how ANC leaders and intellectuals have interpreted the movement's role by investigating three interrelated ideas: a conception of power, a notion of unity, and an understanding of human liberation. He examines how these ideas have shaped the ANC in the past, and speculates about how they might inform ANC leaders' responses in the future.

Anthony Butler is Professor of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of several books, includng a biography of Cyril Ramaphosa.