Rick Abel's classic Politics by Other Means (1995) used South Africa to argue for law's ‘potential nobility’, but it did so avoiding a heroic mode characteristic of much anti‐apartheid writing. Abel showed how law could, with strenuous exertion, be turned into a defensive shield for the oppressed. As a sword, however, it was ‘two‐edged’. It allowed the powerful to frustrate or overturn hard‐won symbolic victories. Recently, the heroic mode has returned to South Africa. The Constitutional Court, in particular, is lauded for having combated ‘state capture’ under deposed President Jacob Zuma. A closer examination of this period, however, does much to vindicate Abel's earlier scepticism about law's offensive value. The spectacular deployment of law to fight politicians’ crimes has exposed the judiciary to unexpected political threats. Meanwhile, civil society's efforts to entrust judges with administrative duties shirked by the government has inevitably entailed the sacrifice of some rule of law values.

中文翻译：

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当今南非的其他政治方式

里克·亚伯（Rick Abel）的经典《其他手段的政治》（1995）南非曾使用南非为法律的“潜在贵族”辩护，但这样做是避免了很多反种族隔离文本的英雄模式。亚伯（Abel）展示了如何通过艰苦的努力将法律变成被压迫者的防御盾牌。但是，作为一把剑，它是“两刃”的。它使有权势的人挫败或推翻来之不易的象征性胜利。最近，英勇模式已返回南非。特别值得称赞的是宪法法院在被推翻的总统雅各布·祖玛（Jacob Zuma）的领导下与“国家占领”作斗争。然而，仔细研究这一时期，对于证明亚伯对法律的进攻价值的早期怀疑是有很大帮助的。打击政治家犯罪的惊人法律部署使司法机构面临意料之外的政治威胁。同时，民间社会