Book reviews

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Browsing Book reviews by Faculty "Faculty of Humanities"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Book Review: The Equal Society: Essays on Equality in Theory and Practice
    (2017-06) Schrire, Robert
    Issues around equality have become of critical importance in our globalised world. Thomas Piketty in France and Paul Krugman in the United States are among many contemporary economists who have stressed the centrality of the impact of inequality on the welfare of nations and peoples. The rise of right- and left- wing populists like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is a visible manifestation of the political impact of inequality. This volume therefore comes at a propitious time. The product of an international conference of philosophers held in Cape Town in late 2014, its 14 contributors examine a wide range of practical and epistemic issues related to equality and inequality.
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    Handbook of Africa's International Relations
    (2014) Smith, Karen
    Africa has been, and continues to be, marginalised in both the practice and study of international relations (IR). However, in light of the increased influence of the emerging powers on the continent, and Africa’s improved pro- spects for economic growth and develop- ment, in recent years there has been a renewed interest in its role in the international system. This book responds to what the editor calls ‘the emerging political prominence of the African con- tinent on the world stage’ (1) by providing one of the most comprehensive overviews of Africa’s IR to date.
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    New regionalism in the South - Mercosur and SADC in a comparative and interregional perspective
    (2015) Duthie, Shawn Robert
    This is a unique and intelligent work that challenges the dominant normative approaches towards regionalism. Based on the author’s PhD research, the book navi- gates away from the overused regional comparisons with the European Union (EU), moving towards a South–South comparison; it also avoids treating regionalism in the South as sui generis. Mattheis analyses two regional organisations – Mercosur1 and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – to answer two major ques- tions: how do regionalisms produce regions; and how does inter-regionalism change the nature of regionalism?
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    Review of Claire Laurier Decoteau’s 'Ancestors and Antiretrovirals'
    (2015) Paremoer, Lauren
    Before South Africa became famous for implementing the largest public sector antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program in the world, it was infamous for the Mbeki government’s refusal to recognize the efficacy, safety and sustainability of ARVs and his administration’s endorsement of “vitamins and vegetables” as efficacious HIV/AIDS treatments (Cullinan & Thom 2009). The activism required to bring about this policy transformation has been extensively documented by treatment activists themselves (Geffen 2010), and by academics who have sought to explain how these struggles have reconfigured the contours of postapartheid citizenship (Robins 2010), social rights and intellectual property rights law (Pieterse 2014, Kapstein & Busby 2013), transnational activism for access to essential medicines (Mbali 2013), and the political and economic feasibility of providing free ARVs to all who need them (Nattrass 2004).
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    Review: The Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War
    (2011-08) Duthie, Shawn Robert
    Nigerian scholar Adekeye Adebajo’s book The Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War centres on the 1884 1885 conference in Germany, presided over by the ‘Iron Chancellor’ Otto von Bismarck. It was at this conference the imperial powers gathered to discuss matters concerning the free trade in the Congo and free navigation of the Congo and the Niger, but more importantly how to peacefully annex the rest of the continent among themselves. Ironically, it was this conference of ‘European locusts’ which called for peace that ‘distorted African politics, economics, and society; damaged indigenous cultures; and retarded socioeconomic development’ (p. 1) to the present day.
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