Synopses & Reviews
In response to the continued inequality, poverty, and unemployment that have served to trigger rising working-class discontent around South Africa, the African National Congress announced a second phase of the “national democratic revolution” to deal with the challenges—all the while preserving the core tenets of the minerals-energy-financial complex that defined racial capitalism. The chapters included in this third volume of the New South African Review, all written by experts in their fields, examine some of these challenges and indicate that they are as much about the defective content of the policies as their poor implementation. The essays address issues of politics, power, and social class; economy, ecology, and labor; public policy and social practice; and South Africa beyond its borders, providing in-depth analysis of the key issues facing that country today.
Review
"The New South African Review offers, for the third time, a valuable compass to navigate us through South(ern) African socio-economic and political realities. It is an important stocktaking exercise. With every year, the New South African Review becomes an ever more important tool for analytical insights into, and assessments of, the challenges." — Henning Melber, director emeritus, Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation; extraordinary professor, department of Political sciences, University of Pretoria; and research associate, Centre for Africa Studies, University of the Free State.
Synopsis
In the face of the continuing national tragedy of the inequality, poverty and unemployment which have triggered rising working-class discontent around the country, the ANC announced a ?second phase? of the ?national democratic revolution? to deal with the challenges. Ironically, the ANC post-Mangaung has resolved to preserve the core tenets of the minerals-energy-financial complex that defined racial capitalism _ while at the same time ratcheting up the revolutionary rhetoric to keep the working class and marginalised onside. If the ?first phase? was a tragedy of the unmet expectations of the majority, is the ?second phase? likely to be a farce? The chapters in this volume are written by experts in their fields and address issues of politics, power and social class; economy, ecology and labour; public policy and social practice; and South Africa beyond its borders. They examine some of these challenges, and indicate that they are as much about the defective content of policies as their poor implementation. The third volume of the New South African Review continues the series by providing in-depth analyses of the key issues facing the country today.
About the Author
John Daniel is the retired academic director for the School for International Training in Durban, South Africa. Prishani Naidoo is a writer, researcher, and lecturer in the department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Devan Pillay is an associate professor in the department of sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand. Roger Southall is the head of the department of sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand and the editor of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies. He is the author of Imperialism or Solidarity? International Labour and South African Trade Unions.