The book, made up of three parts, covers a wide spectrum of political economy issues on post-apartheid South Africa. Although the text is mainly descriptive, to explain various areas of the political economy of post-apartheid South Africa, the first and the last parts provide illuminating insights on the kind of society that is emerging during the twenty-one years of democracy in the country.
The book discusses important aspects of the political history of apartheid South Africa and the evolution of post-apartheid society, including an important recap of the history of southern Africa before colonialism. The text is a comprehensive description of numerous political economy phenomena since South Africa gained its political independence and covers some important themes that have not been discussed in detail in other publications on post-apartheid South Africa. The book also updates earlier work of the author on policy and law making, land and agriculture, education and training as well as on poverty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa thereby providing a wide-ranging overview of the socio-economic development approaches followed by the successive post-apartheid administrations. Interestingly, three chapters focus on various aspects of the post-apartheid South African economy: economic policies, economic empowerment and industrial development. Through the lens of the notion of democratic developmental state and taking apartheid colonialism as a point of departure, the book suggests that, so far, post-apartheid South Africa has mixed socio-economic progress. The author’s extensive experience in the South African government ensures that the book has policy relevance while it is also theoretically sound.
The text is useful for anyone who wants to understand the totality of the policies and legislation as well as the political economy interventions pursued since 1994 by the South African Government.
Vusi Gumede is a Professor and a Dean for the Faculty of Economics, Development and Business Sciences at the University of Mpumalanga. He has worked for different South African universities and government departments as well as a consultant for various organisations in South Africa and outside South Africa. He has held various research fellowships in different countries and is a member of numerous Editorial Committees and other institutions/committees/councils/Boards. He is widely published, including fourteen books. He has supervised to completion over twenty Masters & Doctoral students since joining the academic sector in 2010.
ISBN : 978 2 86978 704 9
CODESRIA 2015
Depuis une dizaine d’années, à la faveur de l’émergence du processus de démocratisation, le Groupe d’études et de recherche sur État et sociétés au Niger (GERES) s’est attaché à cerner les éventuels possibles d’une transformation sociale au Niger. La formation de l’État et la construction de la démocratie ainsi que les rapports de l’armée avec la politique ont constitué les thèmes de recherche dominants. Le GERES aborde dans le présent ouvrage la question des intellectuels au Niger dans leur rapport à l’État, au politique et à la société. Pour la première fois dans l’histoire de ce pays, on disposera d’une réflexion des intellectuels nigériens sur les intellectuels nigériens. Cette recherche vient compléter la série de travaux publiés par le GERES et s’intègre parfaitement dans un vaste programme cohérent dont l’objectif général est d’étudier les acteurs et les lignes de force de l’histoire politique et sociale du Niger contemporain.
Il s’agit d’une approche comparative, dans une perspective historique et sociologique allant de l’époque précoloniale jusqu’à l’avènement de la démocratie. La perspective historique permet de cerner le plus étroitement possible sur la longue durée les phénomènes de continuité et de rupture entre les différents âges historiques (précolonial, colonial et postcolonial) dans les perceptions que l’on a de l’intellectuel, de son rôle dans la société, de ses relations complexes et parfois ambiguës avec le pouvoir politique, de ses rapports à l’État et à la société. Cette référence aux héritages et filiations est essentielle pour démêler les influences multiples, les recompositions et les transformations survenues au sein du paysage intellectuel nigérien. Au plan sociologique, l’ouvrage expose des éléments d’une sociologie des intellectuels au Niger : histoires de vie (trajectoires individuelles) et histoire intellectuelle (variabilité des logiques) de quelques figures emblématiques.
Over the past decade, thanks to the emergence of the process of democratization, the Group of Studies and Research on State and Societies in Niger (GERES) has endeavored to identify possible social transformation in Niger. The formation of the state and the construction of democracy, as well as the military's relations with politics, constituted the dominant research themes. In this book, GERES addresses the issue of intellectuals in Niger in their relationship to the state, politics and society. This research complements the series of works published by GERES and fits perfectly into a vast and coherent program whose general objective is to study the actors and the strengths of the political and social history of contemporary Niger. It is a comparative approach, from a historical and sociological perspective, going from the pre-colonial period to the advent of democracy.
Kimba Idrissa holds a PhD in Letters, Social Sciences and Humanities. He is a Full Professor at the University Abdou Moumouni of Niamey (Niger). He has worked as associate professor and researcher in many universities and research centres in Africa, France, The Netherlands and the United States. He has done many publications on the political and social history of contemporary Niger. His recent works include Niger: Etat et démocratie, Paris, L’Harmattan.
ISBN : 978 2 86978 708 7
CODESRIA 2016