South Africa’s Transition to Democracy: Lessons Learnt and Bulgarian Parallels

The Centre for Liberal Strategies

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)

and

The Embassy of the Republic of South Africa

have the pleasure of inviting you to the debate:  

 South Africa’s Transition to Democracy

 Lessons Learnt and Bulgarian Parallels

A discussion with H.E. Sheila Camerer,

Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Bulgaria

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of South Africa’s negotiated political settlement which ended Apartheid and was the platform for South Africa’s transition to democratic government during the 1990’s. South Africa has become a global example for the introduction of democratic reforms and in the intervening years,  an ambitious player on the international stage – the only African member of the G20; a member of BRICS, a non-permanent member of the UNSC twice in the past 6 years, host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and COP17 (2011). The reform of the political system, judicial reform, the building of a sound institutional framework, the large-scale social programs aimed at improving the condition of the disadvantaged present different aspects of the rich South African experience.
What are the parallels and the lessons learned we can borrow from this experience in the case of Bulgaria, especially in sectors such as the reform of the judiciary and social integration policies for the marginalized? All those questions will be at the core of the forthcoming discussion with H.E. Sheila Camerer.
Participants:
H.E. Sheila Camerer, long-standing member of the South African parliament and Deputy Minister of Justice during the governments of Presidents FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela
Daniel Smilov, Program Director, Center for Liberal Strategies
Galina Kostadinova, Oxford University
Moderator: Dimitar Bechev, Director, ECFR-Sofia

The discussion will be held in English.

 A simultaneous translation into Bulgarian will be provided.

  

Date: 20 February 2013 (Wednesday), Time: 19:00 h.

Place: Center for Culture and Debate “The Red House”

Sofia, 15 Lyuben Karavelov Str,

The Red Hall

Please RSVP at 986 14 33 or  intern.sofia@ecfr.eu