Political Geography: South Africa / Topic: Development

1. From Paper to Practice: Enhancing Integrated Development Plans to Improve Governance

Author:: Stuart Morrison and Pranish Desai
Publication Date:: 03-2024
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Good Governance Africa (GGA)
Abstract:: Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) systems play an important role in ensuring that South Africa’s municipalities are able to effectively fulfil their core mandate of service delivery. One central component of this system is the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), a strategic framework used for several functions, including guiding key priorities and providing a roadmap for effectively delivering public services. However, even though most municipalities consistently submit IDPs, the quality of service delivery, especially amongst municipalities that have Water Services Authority responsibilities, is uneven. This raises the questions around which factors are more influential in determining effective service provision, and why they are lacking in dozens of municipalities. Using Good Governance Africa’s 2024 Governance Performance Index (GPI), this policy briefing provides a range of stakeholders with consolidated insights into how these issues can be addressed.
Topic:: Development, Governance, Services, Planning, Monitoring, and and Evaluation (PME)
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

2. Reversing the resource curse: Advancing good natural resource governance for inclusive growth and sustainable development in Southern Africa

Author:: Sikhululekile Mashingaidze and Stephen Buchanan-Clarke
Publication Date:: 02-2024
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Good Governance Africa (GGA)
Abstract:: The International Energy Agency’s Medium-Term Gas Outlook in late 2023 notes that “Africa accounted for nearly 40% of new natural gas discoveries globally in the past decade, mainly in Mozambique, Mauritania, Senegal and Tanzania. However, socio-political instability and security issues make Africa a high-risk environment for the gas industry. This results in a gap between the potential and the actual gas production projects under development.” Nonetheless, the Agency forecasts natural gas production growth of 10% (higher than current levels) by 2026. It had only grown by 2.5% from 2011 to 2021, and currently accounts for roughly 6% of global production.1 Asian and Middle Eastern markets’ demand will continue2 while African governments will bet on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). In the longer term, it is critical to phase out fossil fuels due to their exacerbation of global warming and health and environmental risks. Given the imperative for lowercarbon growth trajectories, demand for oil, gas, and coal will likely peak in 2024. Governments and mining investors’ negotiations and contracts should safeguard local populations through ecologically sensitive, responsible mining. Communities’ voices are critical to decision-making from project inception to ensure revenues usher in broad-based growth and increased domestic energy security. In 2022, Good Governance Africa (GGA), with support from the Southern Africa Trust (SAT), explored critical issues surrounding LNG exploration and development in Southern Africa in the context of climate change.3 This intelligence report is a consolidation of key lessons from these LNG projects’ impact on local communities in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado; South Africa’s Eastern Cape, and Zimbabwe’s Cabora Bassa Basin. Together, these three cases illustrate both the promise and perils of LNG mining in Africa.
Topic:: Development, Natural Resources, Economic Growth, Sustainability, and Inclusion
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

3. How Has South Africa’s Membership of BRICS Intensified Uneven and Combined Development in the Country and Beyond?

Author:: Sinan Baran
Publication Date:: 06-2024
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:: The recent African scramble has resulted in uneven and combined development (UCD) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) throughout the 21st century due to unequal exchange. South Africa plays a sub-imperial role in this scramble in SSA. It both exploits and is exploited. The mining industry in South Africa has attracted interest from colonial powers, English-speaking businesses, and foreign investors, making it a highly lucrative sector. Furthermore, most black South Africans have been employed in the mining industry since the late 19th century. Over the past 25 years, the African National Congress government has utilised the mining industry to achieve economic transformation through black economic empowerment policies. This study proposes that the mining sector in South Africa is responsible for the ongoing UCD, despite receiving new investments and empowerment policies. South Africa’s inclusion in BRICS has broadened its range of international partners beyond its traditional Western or African counterparts. However, South Africa’s decision to join the BRICS group in 2011 has not yet yielded the expected transformation in the country’s economy and growth. As a result, it is uncertain whether South Africa’s BRICS membership has addressed the country’s persistent problem of UCD. This study argues that South Africa’s BRICS membership has exacerbated UCD in the country. This study proposes that Trotsky’s UCD analytical framework is useful for analysing South Africa’s policy choice to join BRICS, which strengthens its sub-imperial role.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Mining, Industry, BRICS, Economic Transformation, Unequal Exchange, Sub-imperialism, and Transnational Capital
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

4. The state of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme: Where to from here?

Author:: Busisipho Siyobi
Publication Date:: 12-2023
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Good Governance Africa (GGA)
Abstract:: Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, recently briefed South Africa on the progress of the Energy Action Plan and the challenges associated with its implementation. Minister Ramokgopa further remarked on the positive socio-economic impact that the Renewable Energy Independent Power Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has had on the industry and economy. Over R300 billion has been attracted for infrastructure investment and over 120 independent power producers have been selected as preferred bidders. These success factors indicate great potential for an optimal energy mix, led by renewable energy sources, to be attained. They also highlight opportunities for more private-sector investment. For this potential to be fully maximised, programme design, programme management and market dynamics will be critical to factor in. This report assesses the abovementioned overarching categories and illustrates mechanisms that will be integral to facilitating increased private sector investment into grid-connected renewable energy generation. This will yield efficient management of REIPPPP and further enable improved economic growth and sustainable development.
Topic:: Development, Governance, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and Energy
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

5. Gold in Ghana: A Story of Unbalanced Exchange

Author:: Léonce Ndikumana and William Godfred Cantah
Publication Date:: 09-2023
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:: his paper presents the historical and institutional context of the development of the gold sector in Ghana, which sets the stage for examining the contribution of the sector to the economy and its exposure to capital flight. The analysis sheds light on the important role that the regulatory framework and the fiscal regime that govern the gold sector have played in perpetuating a system of unequal distribution of gains from gold exploitation in terms of tax revenue and foreign exchange earnings in favour of foreign gold companies. The statistical analysis of gold export statistics reveals substantial discrepancies between Ghana’s gold exports and the recorded value of imports by its trading partners. These differences point to export underinvoicing as a conduit of capital flight, while also exhibiting a systematic lack of transparency and inconsistencies vis-a-vis established international conventions governing the recording of trade transactions, especially in the case of gold destined for South Africa which does not show up in the latter’s import statistics. Overall, the analysis suggests that the gains from the gold sector remain much below potential, but that at the same time there may be room for reforms that can improve the benefits from gold exploitation for the country.
Topic:: Development, Regulation, Capital Flight, Exchange Rates, and Gold
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and Ghana

6. The Implementation of Sustainability Taxonomies: The Case of South Africa

Author:: Sören Hilbrich, Kathrin Berensmann, Giovanna Artmann, Sam Ashman, and Theresa Herbold
Publication Date:: 01-2023
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:: In recent years, many jurisdictions have developed sustainability taxonomies that aim to increase transparency of financial markets and redirect capital flows to sustainable investments. Such sustainable finance policies can be important levers because today’s investments shape economic production processes for decades. This case study on South Africa’s Green Finance Taxonomy (GFT) addresses the question of what factors influence the adoption of sustainability taxonomies by potential users. It finds that one year after its publication, the GFT has hardly been used in practice. Important factors hindering an effective implementation are a lack of regulatory embedding, the absence of a legal recognition of the GFT by the European Union (EU), a hesitancy among financial market participants to build capacities to collect the necessary data, and fossil-fuel path dependencies in South Africa’s economy. These findings have important policy implications (e.g. regarding accompanying governance measures) for implementation processes in many countries in the coming years.
Topic:: Development, Economy, Capital Flows, Investment, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

7. Green Hydrogen: Implications for International Cooperation With Special Reference to South Africa

Author:: Andreas Stamm, Tilman Altenburg, Rita Strohmaier, Ece Oyan, and Katharina Thoms
Publication Date:: 01-2023
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:: Green hydrogen – produced with renewable energy – is indispensable for the decarbonisation of economies, especially concerning “hard-to-abate” activities such as the production of steel, cement and fertilisers as well as maritime transport and aviation. The demand for green hydrogen is therefore booming. Currently, green hydrogen is far more expensive than fossil fuel-based alternatives, but major initiatives are underway to develop a global green hydrogen market and bring costs down. Green hydrogen is expected to become cost-competitive in the mid-2030s. Given their endowment with solar and wind energy, many countries in the Global South are well-positioned to produce low-cost green hydrogen and are therefore attracting investments. Whether and to what extent these investments will create value and employment for – and improve environmental conditions in – the host economies depends on policies. This discussion paper analyses the potential industrial development spillovers of green hydrogen production, distinguishing seven clusters of upstream and downstream industries that might receive a stimulus from green hydrogen. Yet, it also underlines that there is no automatism. Unless accompanied by industrial and innovation policies, and unless there are explicit provisions for using revenues for a Just Transition, hydrogen investments may lead to the formation of socially exclusive enclaves. The paper consists of two parts. Part A provides basic information on the emerging green hydrogen market and its technological ramifications, the opportunities for countries with abundant resources for renewable energy, how national policies can maximise the effects in terms of sustainable national development and how this can be supported by international cooperation. Part B delves into the specific case of South Africa, which is one of the countries that has an advanced hydrogen roadmap and hosts several German and international development projects. The country case shows how a national hydrogen strategy can be tailored to specific country conditions and how international cooperation can support its design and implementation.
Topic:: Development, International Cooperation, Renewable Energy, and Hydrogen
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and Germany

8. MIT X TAU Series: Africa’s New Activists

Author:: Busisiwe Seabe and Claude Grunitzky
Publication Date:: 05-2023
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:: The fourth webinar in the third annual webinar series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa. Featuring: Busisiwe Seabe is a social justice activist in South Africa and a co-founder of the #FeesMustFall movement.
Topic:: Development, Social Justice, and Activism
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

9. Climate Change and Trade to the EU Priority Sectors for Policy Intervention in South Africa

Author:: Jason F. Bell, Sumayya Goga, and Nishal Robb
Publication Date:: 07-2023
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Business and Development Studies (CBDS), Copenhagen Business School
Abstract:: The deepening climate crisis has resulted in countries instituting a range of measures to curb emissions. The European Union (EU) has the most advanced climate policies, captured under the umbrella of its European Green Deal (EGD). While many of the measures being implemented impact countries within the EU, the measures are expected to impact Europe’s trading partners. The impacts on trading partners is occurring through changing regulations and policies such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), shifting consumer preferences, and impacts through value chains as a result of changing competitiveness of end products. EGD policies are forcing trading partners to the EU to adjust and decarbonise production processes, measure and report on emissions and other sustainability criteria, and, in some cases, even transform sectors to retain market share (the move towards electric vehicles). These policies include, among others, carbon taxes through the CBAM, the move towards electric vehicles in order to curb emissions, and a range of measures within the food sector. Together, these policies bring significant changes in the global trading system and the functioning of value chains. The costs associated with adjusting to these policies are high. Furthermore, these costs need to be borne by developing countries over and above the adaptation costs.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Development, European Union, and Trade
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, and South Africa

10. Through the Lenses of Morality and Responsibility: BRICS, Climate Change and Sustainable Development

Author:: Goktug Kiprizli
Publication Date:: 08-2022
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:: The aim of this article is to shed a broader light on the social identity of the BRICS group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) whose growing economic power is the defining motive of their social construct in international relations. In line with this purpose, the article examines the BRICS nations’ positions concerning the moral aspect and the notion of responsibility for the nexus between climate change and sustainable development. This article argues that their statements and discourse on climate change and sustainable development forge the process of constructing a separate group identity for the BRICS partners. The articulation of moral appraisals and the notion of responsibility in the areas of climate change and sustainable development help the BRICS countries build their self-conception and self-categorization corresponding to their identity as emerging powers, so their actions are accomplished accordingly.
Topic:: Development, Sustainability, BRICS, Morality, Identity, and Emerging Powers
Political Geography:: Africa, Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

11. Youth Inclusion in the Development of South Africa's National Youth Policy (2020–2030): Reflections and Recommendations

Author:: Steven Rebello
Publication Date:: 11-2022
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
Abstract:: South Africa's National Youth Policy (NYP) 2020–2030 (DWYPD, 2020) represents the country's third attempt to outline actions that can or should be taken, by government and other stakeholders, to facilitate youth development at local and national levels. Meaningful youth inclusion and participation represents a central value within this policy. This emphasis on inclusion aligns with the Constitution of South Africa, where public participation in governance is enshrined as a constitutional imperative. Recognising this emphasis on youth inclusion, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) engaged with a key representative within the Department of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities (DWYPD) to determine what steps or activities the department has initiated to include youth in the development of the NYP 2020–2030 (hereafter referred to as the NYP 2030).
Topic:: Development, Governance, Youth, and Inclusion
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

12. Examining the Potential of Conditional Cash Transfer for Stemming Cape Flats Gang Violence: A Directional Policy Research Project

Author:: Joseph Olusegun Adebayo and Blessing Makwambeni
Publication Date:: 01-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:: The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:: Many low and middle-income countries have either implemented or considered conditional or unconditional cash transfers to poor households as a means of alleviating poverty. Evidence from pilot schemes in many developed and developing economies, including those in Africa, suggests that cash transfers do not only alleviate poverty; they also promote social cohesion and reduce the propensity for violent responses. For example, studies have shown a direct impact of cash transfers on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). In some studies, the rate of IPV (including emotional violence) was significantly reduced when one of the partners was a beneficiary of cash transfer. However, there are limited studies on the potential of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) for stemming gang violence. Our study contributes to filling this gap. We examine here the possibilities of conditional cash transfers for stemming intractable gang-related violence in the Cape Flats.
Topic:: Development, Violence, Gangs, and Cash
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

13. Integrating community development in public procurement of renewable energy generation: Lessons from South Africa

Author:: Mikkel Funder, Holle Wlokas, and Karen Holm Olsen
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: Renewable energy is key to combatting climate change, but it is critical to ensure a just energy transition that benefits all. Denmark’s development cooperation supports the growth of large-scale renewable energy schemes in several countries, but what is good for recipient governments and Danish exports is not automatically good for the poor. In recent years large-scale wind- and solar schemes in developing countries have increasingly met with local resistance from communities who do not feel they benefit from such projects. How can Denmark help ensure that renewable energy projects contribute to community development in the areas where projects are situated? This policy brief provides lessons learnt and associated recommendations from one particular attempt to address this issue, namely South Africa’s efforts to incorporate community development as a criteria in the auction schemes through which renewable energy is procured. This policy is implemented through the nationwide REIPPP programme, which is among the few of its kind globally. While South Africa’s REIPPPP is not perfect and still developing, the programme does exemplify the basic principle that governments can build requirements for privately owned wind- and solar projects into procurement schemes. Requirements to finance community development, support Community Trusts, and allocate shares to communities are thus examples of approaches that could be developed and adapted elsewhere. In addition, the South African programme includes scoring and - performance criteria in the tendering and monitoring process that align with South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment policy. The South African experience also, however, illustrates how public, private and community interests may differ in terms of what community development is and how it should be supported. This highlights the importance of developing democratic and inclusive structures for debating and decision-making on the use and allocation of benefits from large-scale renewable energy projects. Drawing on the lessons from South Africa and other similar schemes, the policy brief recommends that Danish development cooperation should: Support the incorporation of community benefits in regulatory frameworks for public procurement of private renewable energy generation Support development of practice frameworks for community engagement in the renewable energy sector Support community co-ownership of renewable energy generation and democratic governance of benefit sharing arrangements The policy brief is the result of collaborative research between DIIS, Stellenbosch University and the UNEP DTU Partnership. It forms part of the wider TENTRANS project, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and administered by Danida Fellowship Centre.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Environment, Poverty, Natural Resources, Inequality, and Emerging States
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

14. Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: evidence from South Africa

Author:: Roxana Elena Manea, Patrizio Piraino, and Martina Viarengo
Publication Date:: 05-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute (IHEID)
Abstract:: We study the relationship between housing inequality and crime in South Africa. We create a novel panel dataset combining information on crimes at the police station level with census data. We find that housing inequality explains a significant share of the variation in both property and violent crimes, net of spillover effects, time and district fixed effects. An increase of one standard deviation in housing inequality explains between 9 and 13 percent of crime increases. Additionally, we suggest that a prominent post-apartheid housing program for low-income South Africans helped to reduce inequality and violent crimes. Together, these findings suggest the important role that equality in housing conditions can play in the reduction of crime in an emerging economy context.
Topic:: Crime, Development, Inequality, and Housing
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

15. South Africa: When Strong Institutions and Massive Inequalities Collide

Author:: Brian Levy, Alan Hirsch, Vinothan Naidoo, and Musa Nxele
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: South Africa's economic and social imbalances can no longer be swept under the rug. The country has three choices: muddle through, endure another surge of ethnopopulism, or pursue inclusive development. South Africa was one of the 1990s iconic cases of democratization. Yet starting in the mid-2000s, the country began to experience a disruptive collision between its strong political institutions and massive economic inequality. The collision intensified across the 2010s, resulting in economic stagnation and increasing threats to institutional integrity. Understanding why this collision occurred and worsened over time is relevant not just for other middle-income countries but also many higher-income democracies wrestling with similar tensions between a declining tolerance for high or rising inequality and institutions that seemed strong in the past but find their legitimacy increasingly being questioned. Ideally, ideas, institutions, and growth all reinforce one another in a virtuous developmental spiral. Ideas offer hope by encouraging cooperation and the pursuit of opportunities for win-win gains. Institutions assure that the bargains underpinning cooperation will be monitored and enforced. Together, ideas and institutions provide credible commitment, which fuels economic growth. However, such a benign scenario does not reckon with the ways in which persistent high inequality, accompanied by unresolved tensions between the distribution of economic and political power, can both put pressure on institutions and quickly change hope into anger. The result can be a cascading set of pressures and an accelerating downward spiral. For the first fifteen years of democracy, South Africa enjoyed the advantages of both effective institutions and a shared willingness of stakeholders believed in the power of cooperation. This enabled the country to move beyond counterproductive conflict and pursue win-win outcomes. Growth began to accelerate, which created new opportunities for expanding the middle class. Increased fiscal space made it possible to broaden access to public services and to social grants, which reduced absolute poverty. There were, however, some stark limitations in what was achieved. Gains for the poorest did little to alter their difficult economic and social realities. Less than a quarter of the total population, including essentially all white South Africans, enjoyed a standard of living that was middle class or better. There was ample reason for the majority of South Africans to feel that, notwithstanding the promises of mutual benefit, the deck remained stacked against them. This increased the vulnerability of South Africa’s political settlement.
Topic:: Development, Inequality, and Institutions
Political Geography:: South Africa and Africa

16. The Impact of Regulations on Investment in Mobile Telephone Infrastructure in Southern African Development Community Countries

Author:: Albert Makochekanwa
Publication Date:: 01-2020
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:: The main objective of the study was to investigate the impact of policy regulations on investments in mobile telecommunications network infrastructure in all the 15 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The research employed panel data econometrics to achieve its stated objective. Estimated results shows that the coefficient of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is positive and statistically significant, implying that an increase in this variable results in increase in demand and this in turn motivates infrastructure investment in mobile telephone. The coefficient on the previous level of mobile telephone infrastructure investment variable (Invkt-1) was found to be positive and statistically significant. This means that there is a systematic positive association between the previous level of mobile telephone infrastructure investment and the current. The coefficient of the main variable of interest representing mandatory unbundling (Regkt) was found to be positive and statistically significant. This implies that, overall, mandatory unbundling access regulation boost infrastructure investment in mobile telecommunication. Regression estimates shows that the coefficient on one of the variable of interest, political constraint (POLCON) has a negative and statistically significant impact on determining the level of mobile telephone infrastructure investment in SADC countries. Whilst this result is against expectations, one possible explanation may be presence of high level of rent seeking behaviour.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Regulation, Economic Growth, and Economic Policy
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

17. The Trade Effects of the Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States: Early Empirical Insights from Panel Data

Author:: Frederik Stender, Axel Berger, Clara Brandi, and Jakob Schwab
Publication Date:: 01-2020
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:: This study provides early ex-post empirical evidence on the effects of provisionally applied Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) on two-way trade flows between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). Employing the gravity model of trade, we do not find a general EPA effect on total exports from ACP countries to the EU nor on total exports from the EU to ACP countries. We do, however, find heterogeneous effects when focusing on specific agreements and economic sectors. While the agreement between the EU and the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM), which concluded several years ahead of the other EPAs in 2008, if anything, reduced imports from the EU overall, the provisional application of the other EPAs seems to have at least partly led to increased imports from the EU to some partner countries. More specifically, the estimation results suggest an increase in the total imports from the EU only in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) EPA partner countries. On the sectoral level, by comparison, we find increases in the EU’s agricultural exports to SADC, Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and the Pacific. Lastly, in the area of manufactures trade, we find decreases of exports of the ESA and SADC countries to the EU, but increases in imports from the EU into SADC countries. While this early assessment of the EPA effects merits attention given the importance of monitoring future implications of these agreements, it is still too early for a final verdict on the EPAs’ effects and future research is needed to investigate the mid- and long-term consequences of these agreements.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, Manufacturing, and Trade
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, South Africa, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, and European Union

18. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BRICS COUNTRIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION FIELD

Author:: Augusto Leal Rinaldi and Laerte Apolinário Júnior
Publication Date:: 01-2020
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Conjuntura Austral: Journal of the Global South
Institution:: Conjuntura Austral: Journal of the Global South
Abstract:: The first decade of the 21st century gave way to a series of international political-economic dynamics with the potential to reorganize global power (IKENBERRY, 2018; KITCHEN; COX, 2019; MAHBUBANI, 2009; MEARSHEIMER, 2018, 2019). Among the changes, one common reference is the rise of the BRICS –Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa –and, consequently, their performance for demanding reforms of the global governance system (COOPER, 2016; HURRELL, 2018; ROBERTS; ARMIJO; KATADA, 2018; STUENKEL, 2017). The emerging economies have invested in consolidating their new status by acting in different branches of global governance, demanding changes and policies to see a reasonable parity between their economic weight and ability to participate as real decision-makers. In this context, international regimes are a crucial dimension to consider.
Topic:: Development, International Cooperation, International Political Economy, Geopolitics, International Development, Economic Development, and Economic Cooperation
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

19. African Union: Mbeki’s South Africa Policy for Africa

Author:: Luiza Bizzo Affonso and Vitor Ferreira Lengruber
Publication Date:: 06-2020
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:: Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:: Marked by tragedies that reinforce stereotypes about itself, especially those that portray it as dependent on developed countries and unable to solve its own dilemmas, the African continent still presents itself in the 21st century with challenges related to hunger and humanitarian calamities, more recurrent in some regions than others. The initiatives to deal with theses issues arise right at the beginning of the second millennium primarily from South Africa. In this sense, it is possible to ask the following question: what political and economic measures were adopted by the African continent in order to combat these problems? Based on the bibliographic review of qualitative secondary sources relevant to the theme and on the analysis of primary sources, such as speeches and official documents of the Organization of African Unity, the purpose of this article is to demonstrate changes in the political and economic dynamics. Those changes were materialized in the different principles incorporated by the Organization of African Unity (1963) and the African Union (2001), the two main organizations for political, economic and social cooperation at the continental level, which took place in Africa at the beginning of the 21st century. The specific objective of this article is to present the change of guidelines, politically and economically, adopted by the African Union at the time of the transition to the new millennium and the role of South Africa, during the administration of Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008) during the process. The historical period being analysed, therefore, dates from the mid-1990s to the end of Mbeki’s presidential term in September 2008.
Topic:: Development, Regional Cooperation, Economic Growth, Regional Integration, and African Union
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and Brazil

20. The Land Question in South Africa

Author:: Mark Chingono
Publication Date:: 11-2020
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Conflict Trends
Institution:: The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:: Considering the land challenge question and its many dimensions in South Africa, it is important to adopt a holistic approach that locates the land question within the broader framework of sustainable development.
Topic:: Development, Land, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

21. The National Health Insurance Bill: A Critical Review within the South African Development Context

Author:: Mfundo Mandla Masuku, Primrose Thandekile Sabela, and Nokukhanya Noqiniselo Jili
Publication Date:: 07-2020
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: This paper aims to provide a critical review of the proposed National Health Insurance Bill in South Africa with reference to the finance mechanisms and implications within the development context. This starts with a brief analysis of health coverage, looking at the international and local context and describes the development benefits of the NHI. The paper reviews the funding mechanisms with particular reference to the tax incidence of the different types of taxes that could be used to raise funds for the NHI. Fiscal policy implications of the proposed health care provision changes are also discussed, and the proposed NHI Fund evaluated, focusing on the impact on the achievement of a performance-based budgeting system. The paper concludes that the increase of income and consumption-based taxes could result in loss of welfare to society, as labour is discouraged from working and the poor are further disadvantaged through increases in taxes such as value- added tax.
Topic:: Development, Health, Governance, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

22. The (Re)emergence of the BRICS and the Reorganization of Power in Contemporary Geopolitics

Author:: Charles Pennaforte and Ricardo Luigi
Publication Date:: 07-2020
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:: Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:: The two first decades of the 21 st Century were marked by the recrudescence of two powerhouses, Russia and China. Given their important role on global geopolitics, these two countries took advantage of the gaps resulted from yet another crisis on the structure of global capitalism, which influenced the relative decline of the United States capacity to impose its will on the international system as they had been able to do so since the end of World War II. This article’s objective is to analyze the global geopolitical rearrangement due to a weakened United States which opened the possibility for the BRICS nations to emerge as possible sources of power. To reinforce this analysis, the world-systems perspective, (here on referred to as WSP) elaborated mainly by Immanuel Wallerstein and Giovanni Arrighi is used, as well as a geopolitical approach to provide a link to international relations theories. Therefore, this paper is divided on to four sections. The first one interrelates the geopolitical theories and those of the WSP. The second section is guided towards understanding the origins and fundamentals of the WSP. On the third section, an approach is made towards the motivations and the effects of the rearrangement of power on the world’s geopolitics. Finally, on the last section, the roles and opportunities that have arisen from the emergence of the BRICS nations on the international system are presented.
Topic:: Development, International Trade and Finance, Geopolitics, and Capitalism
Political Geography:: Africa, Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

23. BRICS and Mortar: New Architecture in Education

Author:: Kishore Singh
Publication Date:: 12-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:: In the beginning of the new century and the millennium, Brazil, the Russian Federation, India and China came to be reckoned as the world’s fastest growing economies. Later, these were joined by South Africa, leading to the emergence of BRICS as a political coalition of five countries. The year 2009 was a landmark in this historic development. In that year, the first BRICS Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation. The BRICS summits held annually since then have become an important political platform for the collective voice of BRICS countries in the form of BRICS Declarations. Education is one of the most critical areas addressed in successive BRICS summits. Centrality of education in people’s lives and its catalytic role for human development is widely recognised in today’s world. So it was inevitable that the BRICS countries would come together and create a common plat-forum on education as well. The first meeting of BRICS Education Ministers was held in November 2013 on the margins of the UNESCO General Conference. Since then, the BRICS Education Ministers have been meeting annually and issuing a separate declaration in tandem with the declaration issued at the summits.
Topic:: Development, Education, International Cooperation, and BRICS
Political Geography:: Russia, China, South Asia, India, South Africa, and Brazil

24. South Africa’s Changing Role in Global Development Structures – Being in Them but Not Always of Them

Author:: Elizabeth Sidiropoulos
Publication Date:: 01-2019
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:: South Africa’s engagement in global development structures has evolved since 1994, when the country re-entered the international community. The historical philosophical underpinnings of the African National Congress, the governing party, aimed to reaffirm the country’s place in the Global South and African firmament after the end of apartheid. This understanding is necessary in the context of South Africa’s priorities over the past 25 years, not least in the development debates. The last two decades have seen significant attempts to develop global norms that tackle the serious developmental challenges faced by developing countries. The paper explores these initiatives and divides them into three streams – those undertaken by the United Nations, those begun by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-DAC), and those that may be understood as part of club governance processes (such as the G20, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA). South Africa’s engagement in these global development structures is analysed, along with its contribution to the evolution of African agency on the issues of global development. South Africa has strongly criticised existing power relations while undertaking strategic engagements with the North, centred on the vision of an African renaissance and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development initiative. The country has consistently argued that Northern aid cannot be put on the same platform as South-South Cooperation as they have different origins. Other African states and continental institutions have also ramped up their engagement on global development and development cooperation in recent years, which the paper also explores. While South Africa has always identified Africa as a core pillar of its foreign policy, its interests have not always cohered with those of the rest of the continent. Lastly, the paper explores possible avenues that South Africa might pursue in the current polarised multilateral environment. Its biggest challenge is the tension regarding its Global South identity, which has to balance its commitment to African issues and institutional processes, and its positioning via its membership of the BRICS as an emerging power that seeks to contest the current global power configurations.
Topic:: Development, United Nations, Multilateralism, and Economic Development
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

25. Governing Digital Trade – A New Role for the WTO

Author:: Wallace Cheng and Clara Brandi
Publication Date:: 01-2019
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:: Digitalisation is transforming the economy and redefining trade. Recently, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have started to discuss how trade policies and rules should be adapted to address this transformation. For example, in January 2019, 76 WTO members announced the launch of “negotiations on trade-related aspects of electronic commerce”. The scope of these e-commerce negotiations is yet to be defined, but to ban tariffs on electronic transmissions will certainly be on the priority list of WTO members such as the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). The idea of banning tariffs on electronic transmission originated at the WTO’s Ministerial Conference (MC) in 1998, when Members declared that they would “continue their current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions”. This temporary moratorium on e-commerce tariffs needs to be regularly extended, requiring a decision made “by consensus”. Members have repeatedly extended the moratorium on tariffs on “electronic transmissions”, most recently at the latest WTO MC in 2017. But the WTO e-commerce moratorium is increasingly disputed: First, while net exporters of digital products and services, typically industrialised countries, understand the tariff ban to apply to digital content, net importers interpret it as referring only to electronic carriers (e.g. CDs, electronic bits), which means that they regard themselves as permitted to impose customs duties on the content of online trade. Second, while net exporters like the US and the EU propose a permanent ban on e-commerce tariffs in order to provide greater certainty to consumers and business, arguing that the resulting revenue losses are small, net importers like India and South Africa underline that they suffer much greater revenue losses than industrialised countries and have to bear the brunt of the moratorium. Third, while industrialised countries argue that the ban on tariffs on electronic transmissions would reduce market distortions, developing countries are concerned that a permanent moratorium would limit their options to protect domestic products and services traded online. Fourth, the moratorium has stirred a debate about how to create a level playing field between domestic and foreign suppliers of digital products and services.
Topic:: Development, Science and Technology, World Trade Organization, and Digital Economy
Political Geography:: India, South Africa, United States of America, and European Union

26. South-South Cooperation and Technological Development in Defense: The Case of the Missile a-Darter

Author:: Tiago de Bortoli and Rafaella Pelliccioli
Publication Date:: 06-2019
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:: Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:: In the present work, from the case study of the A-Darter missile, a technology transfer project between Brazil and South Africa for its development, will seek to understand how this specific case of cooperation in the military technological development sector occurred and others, understanding their dynamics and consequences for international relations, especially for south-south cooperation. This study is considered relevant, since the technological growth of developing countries is important in unleashing the historical ties of dependence on developed countries, opening the door to independence in other technical areas, as well as the creation of common spaces for the debate of their interests and the discussion of their agendas, because technological knowledge has always been one of the factors that most influenced the international hierarchy, from the steam engine to nuclear technology.
Topic:: Development, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and Brazil

27. The politics of social protection in Eastern and Southern Africa: Actors, institutions and dynamics

Author:: Sam Hickey, Tom Laver, Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, and Jeremy Seekings
Publication Date:: 12-2019
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Since the mid-1990s, there has been in Africa something of a ‘quiet revolution’ in poverty reduction strategies with the proliferation of social assistance programmes that entail cash transfers to the poor. The past two decades have also been characterized by a series of important political developments that have reshaped both state–society relations within sub-Saharan Africa and its relationship with transnational actors. What lies behind these changes?
Topic:: Development, International Organization, Poverty, and Social Services
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and East Africa

28. Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS (1): a background overview

Author:: Paula R. Cruz, Victor Rebourseau, and Alyssa Luisi
Publication Date:: 04-2018
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:: This working paper results from the first phase of the research project on “Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS” conducted by the Research Group on Innovation Systems and Development Governance at the BRICS Policy Center. This research aims to contribute to both the advancement of the scholarly debate on the engagement of HEIs in social innovation initiatives, and the promotion of more inclusive and sustainable development policies in the Global South, particularly in the BRICS.
Topic:: Development, Education, Governance, Innovation, and Higher Education
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

29. Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS (2): a multiscalar governance approach with evidence from DESIS Labs

Author:: Paula R. Cruz, Alyssa Luisi, and Victor Rebourseau
Publication Date:: 04-2018
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:: This is the second working paper resulting from the first phase of the research project on “Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS” conducted by the Research Group on Innovation Systems and Development Governance at the BRICS Policy Center. It aims to provide evidence on the ways in which social innovation labs in HEIs in the BRICS countries may operate within a complex, multiscalar governance mode, which a number of local-, national-, and international or transnational level stakeholders participate in.
Topic:: Development, Education, Governance, and Higher Education
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

30. Youth Unemployment in Africa: Capacity Building and Innovative Strategies

Publication Date:: 12-2017
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:: The aim of this Occasional Paper produced by the African Capacity Building Foundation is to provoke evidence-based discussion, and encourage further investigation on the critical capacity challenges to be addressed to tackle youth unemployment in Africa. The paper assesses the causes and impacts of youth unemployment in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. It profiles and characterizes the status and nature of youth unemployment as well as the strategies and programs—and identifies the challenges, implications, and gaps—to find ways to address it. Stakeholder and expert consultations with development partners, government, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations in addressing youth unemployment were carried out, as such research is crucial for identifying capacity gaps and key policy aspects to address it. The consultations were complemented with a review of success stories and best practices to inform strategies and capacity development interventions aimed to tackle youth unemployment and refine policy approaches toward inclusive, employment-creating, and sustainable economic growth.
Topic:: Development, Economic Growth, Youth, Capacity, Unemployment, Economic Development, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, and Botswana

31. The Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Mechanisms for Developing Countries under the UNFCCC: an analysis of the BASIC countries Biennial Update Reports

Author:: Alice Amorim
Publication Date:: 11-2017
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: BRICS Policy Center
Abstract:: This Policy Brief has three main objectives: Firstly, to present the basic international policy framework for the MRV for developing country Parties under the UNFCCC; Secondly, to provide a short comparative analysis of the latest version of the BURs presented by the countries that belong to the BASIC bloc, with an emphasis on the national MRV component of the Reports; Thirdly and lastly, to provide a set of policy recommendations for the BASIC countries.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Developing World, Regulation, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

32. Infrastructure Development and Financing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a framework for capacity enhancement

Publication Date:: 01-2016
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:: Of the world’s developing regions, Sub-Saharan Africa has the worst infrastructure deficit, with studies pointing to lost growth opportunities. This study presents in one document information previously dispersed on the region’s infrastructure stock and modes of financing. It assesses infrastructure’s role in the region’s economic growth. It identifies specific capacity constraints that have hindered the private sector’s participation in infrastructure financing. And it suggests a framework for advancing institutional and human resource capacities to boost infrastructure financing. The authors first reviewed documents addressing the region’s infrastructure. They then conducted case studies of private sector involvement in infrastructure financing in Kenya, Mauritius, and South Africa. And, using the generalized method of moments (GMM), estimated an infrastructure-augmented growth model.
Topic:: Development, Political Economy, Infrastructure, Finance, Economic Policy, and Capacity
Political Geography:: Kenya, Africa, South Africa, and Mauritius

33. Political Economy of Trade With the European Union: South Africa's Pursuit of Narrow Self-Interest

Author:: Oscar Van Heerden
Publication Date:: 06-2016
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:: Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:: In the years between 1995 and 2008 South Africa was engaged in trade negotiations with the European Union (EU), which were seen as platform for addressing the trade imbalances in favour of the EU. In 2002, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed between South Africa and the EU. Despite its membership to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), South Africa engaged on the negotiations on its own which led to trade and political tensions with other countries within the community. By going alone South Africa was clearly indicating an appetite to vigorously pursue its interests at the expense of regional partners. It is argued that the exclusion, at an early stage of the negotiations, of other regional countries within SADC was counterproductive and had the potential to harm the regional trade relations. In addition, the change of approach at later stage that brought in the regional approach to the negotiations improved the regional trade relations within SADC.
Topic:: Development, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and European Union
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, and South Africa

34. South Africa and Regional Stability in the Mbeki Era: The Nexus Between Personality and Geo-Political and Economic Concerns in Foreign Policy Making

Author:: Olajide Olayemi Akanji
Publication Date:: 12-2016
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:: Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:: This paper examines the role that South Africa during Mbeki’s presidency played in peace and security issues of Southern African Development Community (SADC). The paper infers that South Africa under Mbeki adopted a peace-building approach, comprising mediation, negotiation, peacekeeping, promotion of democracy and election monitoring, in addressing peace and security challenges in the SADC. It however argues that it was the person of Mbeki, shaped by his leadership and revolutionary experiences in the African National Congress (ANC) during apartheid era, alongside South Africa’s economic strength that underlined and shaped its approach and contributions to SADC peace and security.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Development, Peacekeeping, and Strategic Stability
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

35. Beyond Elitism: The Possibilities of Labour-Centred Development

Author:: Benjamin Selwyn
Publication Date:: 04-2016
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex
Abstract:: This article outlines the theory and practice of Labour Centred Development (LCD). Much development thinking is elitist, positing states and corporations as primary agents in the development process. This article argues, by contrast, that collective actions by labouring classes can generate tangible developmental gains, and therefore, that under certain circumstances they can be considered primary development actors. Examples of LCD discussed here include shack-dweller’s movements in South Africa, the landless labourer’s movement in Brazil, unemployed worker’s movements in Argentina and large-scale collective actions by formal sector workers across East Asia. The article also considers future prospects for LCD.
Topic:: Development, Economics, International Political Economy, Labor Issues, and International Development
Political Geography:: East Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina

36. Mark Toufayan, Emmanuelle Tourme-Jouannet, Hélène Ruiz Fabri (eds). Droit international et nouvelles approches sur le tiers-monde: entre répétition et renouveau [International Law and New Approaches to the Third World: Between Repetition and Renewal]

Author:: Makane Moïse Mbengue
Publication Date:: 07-2015
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: The volume under review publishes the proceedings of a colloquium held at the University of Paris in July 2010. The aim of this colloquium was to fill a lacuna that characterizes the contemporary francophone international legal scholarship. Indeed, as noted by the editors in their foreword to the book, after a prolific period during the 1970s and 1980s, French and francophone scholars have gradually lost interest in Third World-related issues and ignored this topic in their research and teachings. This trend is regrettable and unfortunate because despite some progress and improvements, international relations are still marked by significant inequalities and disparities between rich and poor countries, while several regions of the world remain in a situation of extreme poverty. Therefore, there is an urgent need to renew and revive the reflection of French-speaking international lawyers on their discipline by inciting them to critically question the present existence and effects of the rules of international law relating to the Third World in the current globalized context. To achieve this goal, Mark Toufayan, Emmanuelle TourmeJouannet and Hélène Ruiz Fabri had the idea of bringing together, in Paris, francophone and anglophone scholars and prominent representatives of the critical Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). TWAIL scholars were invited to expose their ideas and thoughts, and their French-speaking counterparts were asked to react and comment on these thoughts.
Topic:: Development, Human Rights, Imperialism, International Law, Post Colonialism, Third World, and History
Political Geography:: China, Europe, France, South Africa, and Chile

37. The good, the better and the best: How the Community Work Programme can reach its full potential as an instrument of community development in South Africa

Author:: Community Work Programme (CWP)
Publication Date:: 10-2015
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
Abstract:: The CWP can make a major contribution to community development. Both the way the CWP is implemented at each site and the work it does are important in shaping the contribution the CWP makes to the development of the community.
Topic:: Development, Violence, Reconciliation, and Community
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

38. Growth Dynamics in South Africa: Key Macroeconomic Drivers and Policy Challenges

Author:: Themba Chirwa and Nicholas M. Odhiambo
Publication Date:: 07-2015
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: In this paper we examine which key factors at the macroeconomic level are associated with the economic growth performance of the South African economy. These drivers have been identified by assessing the economic events that occurred during the period 1960-2013. During this period, the South African economy went through two economic and political systems: an apartheid system that covered the period 1948-1993; and a democratic system from 1994 to date. Regardless of the economic system implemented, we find the accumulation of physical capital, human capital development, international trade, real exchange rate growth, and inflation as the most significant macroeconomic drivers of economic growth in South Africa. We also find that the weak performance of the South African economy in recent years has been grossly affected by declining trends in the accumulation of capital stock, low quantities and quality of human capital, worsening balance of payments position, and real exchange rate instability.
Topic:: Development, Economic Growth, Macroeconomics, and Capital
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

39. BRICS As a Transregional Advocacy Coalition

Author:: Roberta Rodrigues Marques de Silva and Eduardo Rodrigues Gomes
Publication Date:: 01-2015
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:: Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:: In this article, we aim to: (i) review the concepts adopted in the literature to explain the nature and behavior of the BRICS in international relations and (ii) present a new BRICS conceptualization proposal. From the first to the last Summit Conference, the BRICS explicitly advocates a multilateral world order through the inclusion of emerging countries in the base institutions of the Western order. For the elaboration of the article, we review the literature on BRICS, as well as the approach on regionalism proposed by Soderbaum to elaborate our conceptualization of the BRICS as an advocacy coalition.
Topic:: Development, Hegemony, Economic Growth, and Regionalism
Political Geography:: Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

40. The Good, the Better and the Best: How the Community Work Programme Can Reach Its Full Potential as an Instrument of Community Development in South Africa

Author:: David Bruce
Publication Date:: 09-2015
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
Abstract:: This policy brief draws on research by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) into the Community Work Programme (CWP), a public employment initiative in South Africa. The policy brief outlines the function of the CWP, both as an employment safety net, and as a vehicle for community development. It also identifies several ways in which different CWP sites vary in terms of their efficiency, fairness and social impact. After identifying what allows some CWP sites to perform better than others, it makes several recommendations to strengthen the CWP.
Topic:: Development, Employment, and Community
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

41. The BRICS Development Bank: Why the world's newest global bank must adopt a pro-poor agenda

Author:: Lysa John
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In July 2014, a new multilateral and Southern-led development bank is expected to be launched by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – better known as the BRICS. The BRICS Development Bank will provide a fresh source of finance for developing and emerging economies to meet their development needs. Little has been made public regarding the proposed Bank's core mandate or activities but while governments negotiate the technicalities of the Bank, it is critical that they also provide a solid vision of the principles, priorities and objectives on which the Bank's activities and operations will be premised. This policy brief recommends that these include commitments to: ending extreme poverty and inequality, with a special focus on gender equity and women's rights; aligning with environmental and social safeguards and establishing mechanisms for information sharing, accountability and redress; leadership on the sustainable development agenda; the creation of mechanisms for public consultation and debate; and the adoption a truly democratic governance structure.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Gender Issues, International Cooperation, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa, Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

42. Making Large-Scale Wind and Solar Power a Reality

Author:: Kevin Ummel
Publication Date:: 09-2013
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: South Africa and many other countries hope to aggressively expand wind and solar power (WSP) in the coming decades. This presents significant challenges for power system planning. Success hinges largely on the question of how and where to deploy WSP technologies. Well-designed deployment strategies can take advantage of natural variability in resources across space and time to help minimize costs, maximize benefits, and ensure reliability.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: South Africa

43. The West must allow a power shift in international organizations

Author:: Jakob Vestergaard and Robert Hunter Wade
Publication Date:: 12-2013
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: More than three years after the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s governing body agreed to reform the organization's governance so as to better reflect the increasing economic weight of dynamic emerging market economies in the world economy, only microscopic changes have been made. Emerging market and developing countries (EMDCs) have become increasingly frustrated with Western states for clinging to their inherited power, in the IMF and other important international economic governance organizations. The emerging cooperation among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) – as seen in the advanced-stage negotiations to establish a Development Bank and a Contingent Reserve Arrangement – sends a “wake up and smell the coffee” call to the West, and the latter will carry a heavy responsibility for eroding global multilateral governance if it continues to drag its heels on the needed adjustments.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Monetary Fund, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil

44. Resources, risk and resilience: scarcity and climate change in Ethiopia

Author:: Alex Evans
Publication Date:: 08-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: Ethiopia's resource scarcity context presents a daunting challenge, but also a significant opportunity. The country's current scarcity context includes: Low agricultural yields and farm sizes: Even if farm productivity were to increase by a factor of three, the average farm would still not produce enough food for a family of five. With 83% of Ethiopia's people directly dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, the country has a major food security challenge; 7.5 million people depend on food safety nets. Major exposure to drought: Ethiopia has erratic rainfall, and acutely limited water storage capacity: the country has only 43m3 of reservoir storage per person, compared to 750m3 in South Africa and 6,150m3 in North America. Levels of irrigation are also low: the World Bank estimates that only 5% of irrigable land in Ethiopia is actually irrigated. Limited access to energy: Ethiopia's total primary energy supply is less than 60% of the African average, and only just over a fifth of the global average. The country depends on waste and biomass for 90 of its energy needs – leading to consequences including deforestation, and soil degradation as a result of biomass not being returned to the soil. High dependence on imported oil and food: Ethiopia currently imports all of its liquid fuels and a significant proportion of its food. This creates major exposure to global commodity price volatility, with the attendant risk of balance of payments problems, inflation and outright supply interruptions.
Topic:: Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, Economics, Poverty, Natural Resources, and Food
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, North America, and Ethiopia

45. Rising Democracies and the Arab Awakening: Implications for Global Democracy and Human Rights

Author:: Ted Piccone and Emily Alinikoff
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:: As the emerging global order takes shape, debate is growing more intense around the trajectory of the rising powers and what their ascendency to positions of regional and international influence means for the United States, its traditional allies, and global governance more broadly. Commentary about these rising powers— often referred to in a generic way as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) but actually encompassing a dozen or so countries largely represented in the G-20—ranges from alarmist to sanguine. Pessimists argue that China, with its impressive economic growth and increasingly global reach, is well-positioned to challenge the United States' role of global superpower and to weaken the commitment of other rising powers, and various international organizations, to liberal values. More optimistic analysts insist that the rise of middle powers, most of which are democracies of varying stripes, bodes well for the world: millions are being lifted out of poverty, rule of law is taking hold and the international system is bound to be a more inclusive, representative one.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, Economics, Globalization, Human Rights, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Poverty, and Governance
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Arabia

46. Breaking Free from Europe: Why Africa Needs Another Model of Regional Integration

Author:: Peter Draper
Publication Date:: 03-2012
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Support for regional economic integration in Africa runs high amongst the continent's international development partners and African elites. However, its expression in European forms of economic integration is not appropriate to regional capacities and in some cases may do more harm than good. This lacuna is exacerbated by technical and theoretical analyses rooted either in economics or international relations literature. This article sets out to reconceptualise the foundations of African economic integration by reviewing key debates within each literature and comparing the results across disciplinary boundaries. Overall, it is concluded that a much more limited approach is required, one that prioritises trade facilitation and regulatory cooperation in areas related primarily to the conduct of business; underpinned by a security regime emphasizing the good governance agenda at the domestic level. Care should be taken to design the ensuing schemes in such a way as to avoid contributing to major implementation and capacity challenges in establishing viable and legitimate states. In doing so, the presence of regional leaders with relatively deep pockets - South Africa in the Southern African case - points to the imperative of building such limited regional economic arrangements around key states.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Governance
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, and South Africa

47. The New Global Health Agenda: Universal Health Coverage

Author:: Laurie Garrett, Yanzhong Huang, Oren Ahoobim, Daniel Altman, and Vicky Hausman
Publication Date:: 04-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: It might seem hard to believe, but just as the world is recovering from the most serious financial shock since World War II, governments around the world are engaging in serious discussions about how to expand health coverage.
Topic:: Development, Emerging Markets, Health, Human Welfare, and Law
Political Geography:: South Africa

48. New Approaches to Global Health Cooperation: Perspectives from Brazil

Author:: Katherine E. Bliss, Paulo Buss, and Felix Rosenberg
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: On November 7, 2011, the Global Health Policy Center of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the Fiocruz Center for Global Health (CRIS) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hosted a seminar entitled “New Approaches to Global Health Cooperation.” The event, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, assembled health policy researchers and practitioners from Brazil, Europe, the United States, and sub - Saharan Africa to examine emerging practices in global health co operation. Issues considered included the factors driving greater international engagement on public health challenges, the growing trend of trilateral cooperation, and the role of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and South - South activities in expanding international cooperation on global health. Over the course of the day - long meeting, speakers and audience members examined the reasons for the overall expansion of funding and programming for overseas global health activities durin g the past decade; considered the factors that underpin Brazil's increasing focus on global health as an area of bilateral and multilateral outreach; reviewed the characteristics of successful trilateral cooperation efforts; and debated the future of multi country engagement on health.
Topic:: Development, Emerging Markets, Health, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:: Africa, Russia, United States, China, Europe, Washington, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Latin America

49. SACU Revenue Sharing Formula: Towards a Development Agreement

Author:: Masedi Motswapong and Roman Grynberg
Publication Date:: 07-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:: The South African Customs Union (SACU) Revenue Sharing Formula (RSF) has been revised substantively twice; once in 1969 and in 1994-2002 since the creation of the customs union in 1910 and each time the changes in the treaty were a reflection of the historic changes occurring in Southern Africa. The apartheid regime created a RSF that served to increase the share of revenue of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BLS), leaving the South African share as a residual of revenues. As this made South Africa a residual claimant it was unsustainable and required reform in the post-apartheid era. The 2002 formula increased the share to the Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BNLS) and removed South Africa as a residual claimant but did not change the fundamental economic relationship between members. While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) supports orthodox fiscal adjustment imbalances this paper argues that the order of magnitude makes those adjustment implausible and a new political arrangement is needed between South Africa and Lesotho and Swaziland to create a viable way forward for Southern African Development Community (SADC). It is argued that even in the case of Botswana and Namibia a new developmental formula, based on investing SACU revenues for regional and national development projects is needed to relieve those countries that have suffered the effects of polarization.
Topic:: Development, Regional Cooperation, Regional Integration, Economic Development, Integration, and Economic Cooperation
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and Botswana

50. India and the BRICS

Author:: Gateway House
Publication Date:: 03-2012
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:: Over the last decade, countries known under the emerging markets acronym of BRICS, have begun to seriously define their common interests and values. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have held three summits so far – in Russia, Brazil and China. On March 29, they will meet again, this time in New Delhi, with the goal of addressing the global economic condition, reforming financial and regulatory institutions and improving cooperation with each other on a host of international issues from starting a BRICS development bank to interchanging high tech skills. While these issues directly impact them, they also affect much of the developing world. Though different in size and resources, the BRICS nations as a group are massive: they account for 45% of the world population, 25% of global GDP and 50% of recent global growth. Together, they have the potential to create a future model for others. As an independent market-focused Indian think tank, Gateway House has been deeply invested in the future of India and its BRICS counterparts. What is the best way to develop affordable housing for large population nations? What is the best way to secure long term, manageable energy supplies? Can healthcare be delivered more efficiently, en masse, and to remote regions? How much sustained growth is required to making one of these large nations succeed? How can the inflation-growth trade-off be managed? Is there a better way to produce and deliver food than with only large scale enterprise? Can the BRICS be lenders of best resort for each other? How to best take advantage of the globalization of technology? The summaries of research papers in this booklet begin to offer some answers. In “India-Brazil: Pioneers of a new development agenda,” researcher Estefanía Marchán examines the possibilities for India to bring affordable housing technology to Brazil, while Brazil offers its experience with programmes to develop profitable small farms and deliver cash payments with modern networks to the poor. Marchan then looks at how the lessons from India-Brazil cooperation might be passed on with good results to Africa. In “India-Russia: Taking each other seriously,” Russia Studies research fellow Katherine Foshko looks at why a once-healthy India-Russia relationship has gone into quietude and suggests that a tech revival should be advanced. “Information technology in particular is an area where India should capitalize on the plethora of educated and talented Russian professionals and Russia can benefit from the size as well as the expertise of the Indian labor pool,” she writes. Similarly, K. N. Vaidyanathan, the former executive director of India’s Securities and Exchange Board and senior Geo-economics Fellow, makes a case that India’s careful, deliberate approach to permitting financial derivatives on its exchanges protected it from the ravages of the 2008 global crash. It has created a model for BRICS and other developing countries, which are seeking to grow while insulating their financial markets from global shocks. Renu Modi, an professor at the University of Mumbai who directed its African Studies Center, points out that while South Africa might have been inducted into the BRIC’s club as a “gift”, its greater as a gateway to the 1-billion-person African continent. There are also cautionary notes. The two largest nations, Indian and China, are both experiencing slower growth, but their outcomes couldn’t be more different, write Gateway House executive director Manjeet Kripalani and adviser Bob Dowling. China is engineering a slowdown to encourage a consumer economy but India is heading for a dangerous stall that must be reversed. Meanwhile, researcher Samir N. Kapadia explains that while China is a friendly banker to BRICS, its lending comes with strings attached.
Topic:: Development, GDP, Economy, and BRICS
Political Geography:: Russia, China, South Asia, India, South Africa, and Brazil

51. SACU Revenue Sharing Formula: Towards a Developmental Agreement

Author:: Roman Grynberg and Masedi Motswapong
Publication Date:: 07-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:: The South African Customs Union (SACU) Revenue Sharing Formula (RSF) has been revised substantively twice; once in 1969 and in 1994-2002 since the creation of the customs union in 1910 and each time the changes in the treaty were a reflection of the historic changes occurring in Southern Africa. The apartheid regime created a RSF that served to increase the share of revenue of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BLS), leaving the South African share as a residual of revenues. As this made South Africa a residual claimant it was unsustainable and required reform in the post-apartheid era. The 2002 formula increased the share to the Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BNLS) and removed South Africa as a residual claimant but did not change the fundamental economic relationship between members. While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) supports orthodox fiscal adjustment imbalances this paper argues that the order of magnitude makes those adjustment implausible and a new political arrangement is needed between South Africa and Lesotho and Swaziland to create a viable way forward for Southern African Development Community (SADC). It is argued that even in the case of Botswana and Namibia a new developmental formula, based on investing SACU revenues for regional and national development projects is needed to relieve those countries that have suffered the effects of polarization.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Customs, and Revenue Sharing
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

52. The Post-Washington Consensus: Development after the Crisis

Author:: Francis Fukuyama and Nancy Birdsall
Publication Date:: 03-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: A clear shift in the development agenda is underway. Traditionally, an agenda generated in the developed world was implemented in—and, indeed, often imposed on—the developing world. The United States, Europe, and Japan will continue to be significant sources of economic resources and ideas, but the emerging markets will become significant players. Countries such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa will be both donors and recipients of resources for development and of best practices for how to use them. In fact, development has never been something that the rich bestowed on the poor but rather something the poor achieved for themselves. It appears that the Western powers are finally waking up to this truth in light of a financial crisis that, for them, is by no means over.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Poverty, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, China, Europe, India, South Africa, and Brazil

53. Looking for Help: Will Rising Democracies Become International Democracy Supporters?

Author:: Thomas Carothers and Richard Youngs
Publication Date:: 06-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The emergence of a multipolar world gives Western democracy advocates cause for both optimism and anxiety. China's success sparks fears of the spread of an autocratic development model. Yet democratic states such as Brazil, Indonesia, India, South Africa, and Turkey are also gaining ground. These countries serve as powerful examples of the universal appeal of democracy and possess unique experiences with democratization. The United States and Europe understandably hope that rising democracies will use their growing prominence to defend democratic values abroad, potentially revitalizing international democracy support.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, Human Rights, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, China, Indonesia, Turkey, India, South Africa, and Brazil

54. Climate Change, Development and Energy Problems in South Africa: Another World is Possible

Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: In climate terms, South Africa is already living on the edge. Much of it is arid or semi-arid and the whole country is subject to droughts and floods. Even small variations in rainfall or temperatures would exacerbate this already stressed environment. Most South African crops are grown in areas that are only just climatically suitable and with limited water supplies.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

55. Criss-Crossing Globalization: Uphill Flows of Skill-Intensive Goods and Foreign Direct Investment

Author:: Arvind Subramanian and Aaditya Mattoo
Publication Date:: 08-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: This paper documents an unusual and possibly significant phenomenon: the export of skills, embodied in goods, services or capital from poorer to richer countries. We first present a set of stylized facts. Using a measure which combines the sophistication of a country's exports with the average income level of destination countries, we show that the performance of a number of developing countries, notably China, Mexico and South Africa, matches that of much more advanced countries, such as Japan, Spain and USA. Creating a new combined dataset on FDI (covering greenfield investment as well as mergers and acquisitions) we show that flows of FDI to OECD countries from developing countries like Brazil, India, Malaysia and South Africa as a share of their GDP, are as large as flows from countries like Japan, Korea and the US. Then, taking the work of Hausmann et al (2007) as a point of departure, we suggest that it is not just the composition of exports but their destination that matters. In both cross-sectional and panel regressions, with a range of controls, we find that a measure of uphill flows of sophisticated goods is significantly associated with better growth performance. These results suggest the need for a deeper analysis of whether development benefits might derive not from deifying comparative advantage but from defying it.
Topic:: Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Brazil, Spain, and Korea

56. Measuring the Vulnerability of Subnational Regions

Author:: Mark McGillivray, Wim Naudé, and Stephanié Rossouw
Publication Date:: 05-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: A small but growing literature has been concerned about the economic (and environmental) vulnerability on the level of countries. Less attention is paid to the economic vulnerability of different regions within countries. By focusing on the vulnerability of subnational regions, our paper contributes to the small literature on the 'vulnerability of place'. We see the vulnerability of place as being due to vulnerability in various domains, such as economic vulnerability, vulnerability of environment, and governance, demographic and health fragilities. We use a subnational dataset on 354 magisterial districts from South Africa, recognize the potential relevance of measuring vulnerability on a subnational level, and construct a local vulnerability index (LVI) for the various districts. We condition this index on district per capita income and term this a vulnerability intervention index (VII) interpreting this as an indicator of where higher income per capita, often seen in the literature as a measure of resilience, will in itself be unlikely to reduce vulnerability.
Topic:: Security, Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

57. Southern Africa: Threats and Capabilities

Author:: Gavin Cawthra
Publication Date:: 11-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:: The southern African region is now generally defined in political terms as those countries that are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (the geographic definition is usually somewhat more limited). Currently there are fifteen member states of the SADC: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Topic:: Development, Peace Studies, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Swaziland

58. The Challenges Of Groundwater In Southern Africa

Author:: Anthony Turton
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Wilson Center
Abstract:: It is impossible to understand the developmental constraints of Africa without grasping the significance of water resources, particularly groundwater. Southern Africa faces potentially severe groundwater shortages, which not only imperil the lives of those directly dependent on it, but also the continued development of the economic engines of the region—South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe—all of which face significant constraints on their future economic growth due to the insecurity of water supply. In addition, groundwater resources are the foundation of rural water supplies, which sustain livelihoods for the poorest of the poor communities.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Development, and Environment
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana

59. Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microcredit

Author:: Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: Policymakers often prescribe that microfinance institutions increase interest rates to eliminate reliance on subsidies. This strategy makes sense if the poor are rate insensitive: then microlenders increase profitability (or achieve sustainability) without reducing the poor's access to credit. We test the assumption of price inelastic demand using randomized trials conducted by a consumer lender in South Africa. The demand curves are downward-sloping, and steep for price increases relative to the lender's standard rates. We also find that loan size is far more responsive to changes in loan maturity than to changes in interest rates, which is consistent with binding liquidity constraints.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

60. Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Experiment

Author:: Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: Information asymmetries are important in theory but difficult to identify in practice. We estimate the presence and importance of adverse selection and moral hazard in a consumer credit market using a new field experiment methodology. We randomized 58,000 direct mail offers issued by a major South African lender along three dimensions: 1) an initial "offer interest rate" featured on a direct mail solicitation; 2) a "contract interest rate" that was revealed only after a borrower agreed to the initial offer rate; and 3) a dynamic repayment incentive that extended preferential pricing on future loans to borrowers who remained in good standing. These three randomizations, combined with complete knowledge of the Lender's information set, permit identification of specific types of private information problems. Our setup distinguishes adverse selection from moral hazard effects on repayment, and thereby generates unique evidence on the existence and magnitudes of specific credit market frictions. We find evidence of moral hazard and weaker evidence for adverse selection. A rough calibration suggests that perhaps 7% to 16% of default is due to asymmetric information problems. Asymmetric information may help explain the prevalence of credit constraints even in a market that specializes in financing high-risk borrowers at very high rates.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Markets, and Poverty
Political Geography:: South Africa

61. Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts

Author:: Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Global Development
Abstract:: Expanding credit access is a key ingredient of development strategies worldwide. Microfinance practitioners, policymakers, and donors have ambitious goals for expanding access, and seek efficient methods for implementing and evaluating expansion. There is less consensus on the role of consumer credit in expansion initiatives. Some microfinance institutions are moving beyond entrepreneurial credit and offering consumer loans. But many practitioners and policymakers are skeptical about “unproductive” lending. These concerns are fueled by academic work highlighting behavioral biases that may induce consumers to overborrow. We estimate the impacts of a consumer credit supply expansion using a field experiment and follow-up data collection. A South African lender relaxed its risk assessment criteria by encouraging its loan officers to approve randomly selected marginal rejected applications. We estimate the resulting impacts using new survey data on borrower behavior and well-being, and administrative data on loan repayment. We find that the marginal loans increased credit access and produced measurable benefits in the form of increased employment, reduced hunger, and reduced poverty. The marginal loans also appear to have been profitable for the lender. The results must be interpreted with caution but suggest that consumer credit expansions can be welfare-improving.
Topic:: Development, Markets, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

62. Olimpiadas y Copa Mundial de Fútbol: ¿Competencias deportivas o instrumentos políticos?

Author:: Karina Garcia
Publication Date:: 10-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:: This paper analyzes the setting of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup employing a geopolitical approach. To identify in which way these international sports events are geopolitical instruments of the International System, I present a revision of different elements involved in the selection of China and South Africa as respective hosts of the Olympic Games of 2008 and the World Cup of 2010, such as the motives, goals and possible benefits of these two countries. In this way, I sustain the thesis that the Olympic Games and the World Cup are political instruments used by the States to pursue their geopolitical interests.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:: China, Asia, and South Africa

63. Small Arms and Light Weapons: Towards Global Public Policy

Author:: Keith Krause
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:: Small arms and light weapons kill at least 300,000 people a year, in both conflict and non-conflict situations, and injure or disable thousands more. Small arms are the weapons of choice of warring parties— government armies, paramilitaries, rebel forces, or even terrorists—and in recent wars they account for between 60 and 90 percent of direct conflict deaths, depending on the nature and intensity of the fighting. In non-war settings small arms represent one of the leading causes of preventable death, and a major cause of mortality for young men—through, for example, armed violence, suicides, murders, and accidents. 1 In Rio de Janeiro the gun violence death rate is comparable to that of some war zones. El Salvador has a firearm death rate of thirty per 100,000, and Colombia suffers a rate of fifty-five per 100,000 people killed by gun violence. 2 The life expectancy of males born in Colombia in 2002 is reduced by more than three years as a result of the risk of armed violence. And in South Africa, homicides are the leading cause of death for males between fifteen and twenty-one years of age. Overall, the global burden of violence and violent conflict is one of the most important external causes of death and injury.
Topic:: International Relations, Arms Control and Proliferation, Development, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: South Africa and Colombia

64. Understanding South Africa's Economic Puzzles

Author:: Dani Rodrik
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:: South Africa has undergone a remarkable transformation since its democratic transition in 1994, but economic growth and employment generation have been disappointing. Most worryingly, unemployment is currently among the highest in the world. While the proximate cause of high unemployment is that prevailing wages levels are too high, the deeper cause lies elsewhere, and is intimately connected to the inability of the South African to generate much growth momentum in the past decade. High unemployment and low growth are both ultimately the result of the shrinkage of the non-mineral tradable sector since the early 1990s. The weakness in particular of export-oriented manufacturing has deprived South Africa from growth opportunities as well as from job creation at the relatively low end of the skill distribution. Econometric analysis identifies the decline in the relative profitability of manufacturing in the 1990s as the most important contributor to the lack of vitality in that sector.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

65. South Africa's Export Predicament

Author:: Bailey Klinger and Ricardo Hausmann
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:: This paper explores export performance in South Africa over the past 50 years, and concludes that a lagging process of structural transformation is part of the explanation for stagnant exports per capita. Slow structural transformation in South Africa is found to be a consequence of the peripheral nature of South Africa's productive capabilities. We apply new tools to evaluate South Africa's future prospects for structural transformation, as well as to explore the sector al priorities of the DTI's draft industrial strategy. We then discuss policy conclusions, advocating an 'open-architecture' industrial policy where the methods applied herein are but one tool to screen private sector requests for sector-specific coordination and public goods.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

66. Agricultural Policy Reform in South Africa

Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: With a surface area of 1.22 million km2 and a population of 46.9 million, South Africa is one of the largest countries on the African continent. It is also the largest African economy, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of USD 3 530, more than four times the African average.
Topic:: Development, Economics, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: South Africa

67. Estimating the Balance Sheet of the Personal Sector in an Emerging Market Country: South Africa 1975-2003

Author:: Johan Prinsloo, John Muellbauer, and Janine Aron
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Official balance sheet estimates for the household sector are not currently available in South Africa, yet, with the country's well developed financial sector and deep capital markets, asset market channels are likely to be important determinants of aggregate consumer spending and saving, consumer demand for credit and their broad money holdings. The current paper aims to produce comprehensive estimates of household balance sheets for South Africa. The paper draws, where feasible, on best practice from the Office of National Statistics of the UK and assesses the quality of the data sources and suggests areas where additional surveys or improvements in data collection procedures would be helpful to further improve the quality of the balance sheet estimates. Furthermore, quarterly balance sheet measures to 2003 are provided, and linked to quarterly measures. The main balance sheet categories are liquid assets, household debt and various categories of illiquid financial and tangible assets, including pension wealth, directly held shares and bonds, and housing. Revised debt estimates and new estimates of tangible assets for households and unincorporated businesses are provided. The paper describes the trends of the estimates of the household sector's balance sheets and of total net wealth. The paucity of data for developing and emerging market countries is illustrated by means of a survey, and lessons are drawn from the South African research for the compilation of household sector balance sheets.
Topic:: Development, Emerging Markets, and Third World
Political Geography:: Africa, United Kingdom, and South Africa

68. Economic Size Trumps All Else? Lessons from BRICSAM

Author:: Timothy Shaw, Andrew F. Cooper, and Agata Antkiewicz
Publication Date:: 12-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: Continuing CIGI's BRICSAM research, this paper questions whether size (economic or population) of emerging economies alone is enough to warrant accommodation in the rules and structures of the international system. The global realignment of states following the resulting power vacuum brought on by the end of the Cold War is finally materializing, as a new triangular formation has taken shape: the 'first world' club of the OECD; the 'second world' of emerging economies; and, a heterogeneous 'third world' of the rest. The interplay between and mobility among these groups of states deserves in-depth analysis. The core of this paper observes the economic and social trends of countries in the second tier, and their upwards aspirations towards the top-tier of the global architecture. Traced through a variety of indices, the growth of the BRICSAM group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, ASEAN-4 and Mexico) is demonstrated to be a powerful force in international economics and political economy. For the inclusion of these states, a change in the key aspects of global economic governance, the international architecture and geopolitics seems inevitable, and with it, new challenges arise for decision-makers and scholars alike.
Topic:: Cold War, Development, Economics, and Globalization
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico

69. Stadium Architecture and regional economic development: International experience and the plans of Durban

Author:: Wolfgang Maennig
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg
Abstract:: For the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa plans to invest heavily. The positive economic effects that the country is hoping for stand in contrast to almost all statistical ex-post studies. This contribution emphasises that these results, usually from research under-taken in the USA, can only be generalised to a limited degree. The density of sports venues in developed countries is so high, that the marginal effects of new stadia are necessarily limited. We also emphasise that stadium design around the world was not hitherto adequately targeted towards positive economic effects. The example of Durban and its plans for a new “iconic” stadium is used to illustrate fundamental principles of stadium design and their embedding in a re-urbanisation process that have to be undertaken in order to consciously achieve positive regional economic effects.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Sports, Architecture, World Cup, Regional Economy, and Soccer
Political Geography:: Africa, South Africa, and Global Focus

70. BRICSAM and the Non-WTO

Author:: Agata Antkiewicz and John Whalley
Publication Date:: 10-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:: We discuss recent regional trade and economic partnership agreements involving the large population, rapidly growing economies (BRICSAM: Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa, ASEAN, and Mexico). Perhaps 50 out of 300 agreements that exist worldwide involve BRICSAM countries; most are recently concluded and will be implemented over the next few years. Along with extensive bilateral investment treaties, mutual recognition agreements, and other country to country (or region) arrangements they are part of what we term the non-WTO. This paper aims to document and characterize the agreements and analyze their possible impacts. Agreements differ in specificity, coverage and content. In some treaties there are detailed and specific commitments, but these also co-exist with seemingly vague commitments and (at times) opaque dispute settlement and enforcement mechanisms. Whether these represent a partial replacement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) process for newly negotiated reciprocity based on global trade liberalization or largely represent diplomatic protocol alongside significant WTO disciplines is the subject of this paper.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico

71. Rising Spatial Disparities and Development

Author:: Ravi Kanbur and Anthony J. Venables
Publication Date:: 09-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Amidst a growing concern about increasing inequality, the spatial dimensions of inequality have begun to attract considerable policy interest. In China, Russia, India, Mexico, and South Africa, as well as most other developing and transition economies, there is a sense that spatial and regional disparities in economic activity, incomes and social indicators, are on the increase. Spatial inequality is a dimension of overall inequality, but it has added significance when spatial and regional divisions align with political and ethnic tensions to undermine social and political stability. Also important in the policy debate is a perceived sense that increasing internal spatial inequality is related to greater openness of economies, and to globalization in general.
Topic:: International Relations, Foreign Policy, Demographics, and Development
Political Geography:: Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Mexico

72. An Inquiry into Cities and Their Role in Subnational Economic Growth in South Africa

Author:: W.F. Krugell and W.A. Naudé
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: South Africa is characterized by significant inequality in spatial economic activity. Whether future growth and development on a subnational level in South Africa will be such as to reduce this inequality may depend on the economic growth and development of South Africa's largest cities. Our local economic growth empirics show some indications of conditional convergence in output between poorer towns as well as overall between all cities and towns. Between 1990 and 2000 some limited sigma convergence was found but this was driven by declines in the standard deviation of per capita income amongst the poorest quintile of towns. An estimate of conditional beta convergence of 1.2 percent over the period 1990-2000 confirms that overall convergence has been taking place. From an estimation of the determinants of economic growth on a local level, using a dataset on 353 local areas in South Africa between 1990-2000 we found the most significant determinants to be stocks of human capital and distance from harbours and markets. The effect of human capital on economic growth was strongly associated with the presence of large cities, as one would predict from endogenous growth theory.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

73. Does South Africa Suffer from the Fear of Float' Syndrome?An Analysis of the Efficacy and Challenges of a Managed Floating Exchange Rate Regime with Financial Integration'

Author:: Olano Makhubela
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:: The paper examines whether South Africa suffers from a 'fear of float' syndrome. The analysis also covers the efficacy and challenges of a managed floating exchange rate regime. I use time series data, volatility equations and ARCH models to test the volatility of South Africa's exchange rate, interest rate and foreign exchange reserves. Evidence shows that South Africa has volatile interest and exchange rates, but not foreign exchange reserves. Yet, South Africa does not seem to suffer from an extreme and chronic form of 'fear of floating'. South Africa requires financial integration to finance its current account deficits and to complement its low savings rate. Yet, evidence indicates that both capital account openness and foreign exchange control liberalization have no robust impact on growth. The authorities' intervention in the 2001 currency crisis did not help. Hence, I recommend that South Africa should use interest rates early to target both inflation and foreign exchange rates. Challenges remain in the form of relatively high interest rates, volatile capital flows, perceptions, destabilizing speculation, and loopholes in foreign exchange controls.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Economics, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:: South Africa

74. CERI: Municipalities in South Africa: A Shifting-Pole Autonomisation

Author:: Ivan Crouzel
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:: In South Africa, the transition negotiated in order to build a post-apartheid political order has brought about a deep-seated transformation of the state. A central issue of this radical reform had to do with the territorial arrangement of the new state. Constitutional negotiations resulted in a hybrid federal type of system that distinctly reinforced the power of local government, particularly to counterbalance that of the nine provinces. At the same time, a smoother form of intergovernmental relations was introduced with the concept of "cooperative government." In contrast to the centralized system that held sway under apartheid, local government has been strengthened by a new constitutional status, which in particular guarantees an "equitable share" of the national revenue. It also ensures that municipalities are represented nationally through intergovernmental structures involving the participation of local governments.
Topic:: Development, Government, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

75. Producing an Improved Geographic Profile of Poverty: Methodology and Evidence from Three Developing Countries

Author:: Chris Elbers, Peter Lanjouw, Johan Mistiaen, Gabriel Demombynes, Jenny Lanjouw, and Berk Özler
Publication Date:: 03-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper implements a methodology for estimating poverty in Ecuador, Madagascar and South Africa, at levels of disaggregation that to date have not generally been available. The methodology is based on a statistical procedure to combine household survey data with population census data, imputing into the latter a measure of per capita consumption from the former. The countries are very unlike each other—with different geographies, stages of development, quality and types of data, and so on. Yet the paper demonstrates that in all three countries the poverty estimates produced from census data are both plausible (in that they match well stratum-level estimates calculated directly from the household surveys) and satisfactorily precise (at a level of disaggregation far below that allowed by household surveys).
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: South Africa

76. The Coming Apathy: Africa Policy Under a Bush Administration

Author:: Salih Booker
Publication Date:: 12-2000
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:: "There's got to be priorities," George W. Bush responded when asked about Africa in the second presidential campaign debate. Africa did not make his short list: the Middle East, Europe, the Far East, and the Americas. A Bush presidency portends a return to the blatantly anti-African policies of the Reagan-Bush years, characterized by a general disregard for black people and a perception of Africa as a social welfare case. Vice President Dick Cheney is widely expected to steer the younger Bush on most policy matters especially foreign affairs. Cheney's perspective on Africa in the 1980s was epitomized by his 1986 vote in favor of keeping Nelson Mandela in prison and his consistent opposition to sanctions against apartheid South Africa.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Development, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Africa, United States, and South Africa

77. Yet Another Transition? Urbanization, Class Formation, and the End of National Liberation Struggle in South Africa

Author:: David Everatt
Publication Date:: 02-1999
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Wilson Center
Abstract:: Comparative Urban Studies Project Policy Brief Yet Another Transition? Urbanization, Class Formation, and the End of National Liberation Struggle in South Africa Presented February 8-9, 1999, at the Woodrow Wilson Center for the Comparative Urban Studies Project's Research Working Group on Urbanization, Population, the Environment, and Security funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. These policy briefs do not represent an official position of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars or the U.S. Agency for International Development. Opinions expressed are solely those of the authors. South Africa's negotiated settlement is widely hailed as a small miracle. What is the state of the miracle five years on?
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS