Contemporary South Africa and the Political Economy of Regional Development
Edited by Methembe Mdlalose, Isaac Khambule, Nene Ernest Khalema
Published 21 February, 2025, Routledge
eBook ISBN 9781003397823
We are delighted to announce the recently published Regions and Cities Book, Contemporary South Africa and the Political Economy of Regional Development, edited By Methembe Mdlalose, Isaac Khambule, Nene Ernest Khalema.
South Africa’s struggle in balancing its domestic needs while playing a dynamic developmental role in the African region and global context exposes a complex web of relations shaped by its geostrategic location on the continent and the world, and the staggering legacies of colonialism and apartheid. As such, understanding the complexities of the global economy and of South Africa’s place in it, is of great importance. This book builds upon an existing body of literature which has demonstrated that while the post-apartheid South African state has recast its nation building goals – with advances having been made notably in the area of a stellar post-apartheid constitution, policy directives, and democratic political integration – economic integration and policy implementation presents a projection of captured interests, where big business concerns are entrenched in the post-apartheid state’s apparent neo-liberal turn.
The book’s main focus is contextualising issues relating to three main trends in global discourses on development, which are significant for South Africa and indeed for the study of the political economy of regional development in the country from the prism of South Africa as a global capitalist state. These trends include the impact of globalisation, regionalisation, and the marginalisation of South Africa and indeed the African continent in the global economy, thus unpacking the possible role that South Africa might play in regional development.
Watch a recent Regions, Cities, Industry webinar, with presentations by chapter authors Ernst Drewes and Patrick Bond:
For more information, or to purchase the book, please click here. RSA members receive a 30% discount on all Routledge books. For more information, please visit the RSA Lounge.