Political Pawns or Social Agents? A Look at Militarised Youth in South Africa

This paper outlines the theoretical framework used to understand militarised youth and their defence structures. This is followed by an overview of the history of youth struggles, identity and organisation in the 1980s. The third section deals with defence structures in the eighties. The next section examines the political shifts in the nineties and this is followed by a discussion of defence structures post April 1994. The sixth section seeks to uncover the aspirations and goals of militarised youth. Section seven examines the future of youth defence structures, whilst the final section looks at two programs aimed at integrating former members of defence structures into society.