State of the Nation: South Africa 2008

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State of the Nation: South Africa 2008 is the fifth volume in the annual series published by the HSRC Press. This volume will feature a range of pertinent and captivating contemporary viewpoints on South African politics, society, economy and international relations. As with earlier editions, commentary is drawn from the ranks of academics, political analysts, civil society and the research community. The diverse contributions form a comprehensive collection that, as always, reflects a finger kept firmly on the South African pulse. Issues featured in this edition include: Black consciousness in contemporary South African politics; Modernising the African National Congress; The developmental state in South Africa; Globalisation and transformation of the South African Merchant Navy; Landlords, tenants and social power in the backyards of a South African city; The state of military relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe and South Africa in the UN Security Council.

Introduction: Uncertain democracy – elite fragmentation and the disintegration of the ‘nationalist consensus’ in South Africa
Peter Kagwanja

Part I: Politics

1 The Polokwane moment and South Africa’s democracy at the crossroads
Somadoda Fikeni

2 Modernising the African National Congress: The legacy of President Thabo Mbeki
William M Gumede

3 The state of the Pan-Africanist Congress in a democratic South Africa
Thabisi Hoeane

4 Black Consciousness in contemporary South African politics
Thiven Reddy

Part II: Economics

5 The developmental state in South Africa: The difficult road ahead
Sampie Terreblanche

6 Globalisation and transformation of the South African merchant navy: A case of flag of (in) convenience shipping?
Shaun Ruggunan

7 Service delivery as a measure of change: State capacity and development
David Hemson, Jonathan Carter and Geci Karuri-Sebina

8 The state of our environment: Safeguarding the foundation for development
Donald Gibson, Amina Ismail, Darryll Kilian and Maia Matshikiza

Part III: Society

9 Beyond yard socialism: Landlords, tenants and social power in the backyards of a South African city
Leslie Bank

10 Internationalisation and competitiveness in South African urban governance: On the contradictions of aspirationist urban policy-making
Scarlett Cornelissen

Part IV: South Africa, Africa and the globe

11 South Africa and the Great Lakes: A complex diplomacy
Che Ajulu

12 Cry sovereignty: South Africa in the UN Security Council one year on
Peter Kagwanja

13 Praetorian solidarity: The state of military relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe
Peter Kagwanja and Martin Revayi Rupiya

Dr Peter Kagwanja is a former director in the Democracy and Governance research programme at the HSRC, where he lead research and analysis on policy and intellectual issues relating to peace, security, conflict and governance in Africa. Dr Kagwanja is also a research fellow at the Department of Political Science at the University of Pretoria. Prior to joining the HSRC, he served as the director of the International Crisis Group Southern Africa Project, senior researcher and head of the Peer Review Unit of the Pretoria-based think-tank, Safer-Africa, research associate with the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya, and senior researcher at the Centre for Refugee Studies, Moi University, where he also lectured in politics and history.

Dr Kwandiwe Kondlo is Executive Director of the Democracy and Governance research programme at the HSRC. Prior to joining the HSRC, Dr Kondlo was Chief Executive Officer of the South African Chamber of Commerce He as also previously worked as a special advisor on Land Reform Policy in the Department of Land Affairs and Agriculture, and as a policy research executive at the National Prosecuting Authority.