An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa

dc.contributor.advisorWinkler, Harald
dc.contributor.advisorMarquard Andrew
dc.contributor.authorVan, Doesburgh Nicholas
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-30T09:29:20Z
dc.date.available2023-07-30T09:29:20Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.date.updated2023-07-30T09:27:27Z
dc.description.abstractSouth Africa is grappling with persistently high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment, while at the same time being one of the top twenty greenhouse gas emitters in the world. While calls have been made for South Africa to embark on a just transition to a lowcarbon society, a better understanding is needed of the factors that have led to the country's current unsustainability. Drawing on the concept of the minerals-energy complex, this thesis presents an historical political economy analysis of South Africa's industrialisation process in order to (1) identify the key factors that have contributed to the country's high emissions and low employment; and (2) to determine the role of industrial policy in shaping this unsustainable development pathway. The analysis shows that the capital- and energy-intensive characteristics of South Africa's industrial structure have contributed to the country's high unemployment and high emissions. While industrial policy has been instrumental in shaping this industrial structure, its role in the post-apartheid era has been complicated by the existence of a ‘hidden' industrial policy in conflict with official objectives as well as implementation challenges which together have constrained the effectiveness of policies aimed at inclusive decarbonisation. From these results, it is argued that the adoption of an integrated green industrial policy has an important role to play in enabling South Africa to embark on a just transition to an inclusive low-carbon society.
dc.identifier.apacitationVan, D. N. (2023). <i>An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa</i>. (). ,Faculty of Science ,African Climate and Development Initiative. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38197en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationVan, Doesburgh Nicholas. <i>"An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa."</i> ., ,Faculty of Science ,African Climate and Development Initiative, 2023. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38197en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVan, D.N. 2023. An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa. . ,Faculty of Science ,African Climate and Development Initiative. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38197en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Master Thesis AU - Van, Doesburgh Nicholas AB - South Africa is grappling with persistently high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment, while at the same time being one of the top twenty greenhouse gas emitters in the world. While calls have been made for South Africa to embark on a just transition to a lowcarbon society, a better understanding is needed of the factors that have led to the country's current unsustainability. Drawing on the concept of the minerals-energy complex, this thesis presents an historical political economy analysis of South Africa's industrialisation process in order to (1) identify the key factors that have contributed to the country's high emissions and low employment; and (2) to determine the role of industrial policy in shaping this unsustainable development pathway. The analysis shows that the capital- and energy-intensive characteristics of South Africa's industrial structure have contributed to the country's high unemployment and high emissions. While industrial policy has been instrumental in shaping this industrial structure, its role in the post-apartheid era has been complicated by the existence of a ‘hidden' industrial policy in conflict with official objectives as well as implementation challenges which together have constrained the effectiveness of policies aimed at inclusive decarbonisation. From these results, it is argued that the adoption of an integrated green industrial policy has an important role to play in enabling South Africa to embark on a just transition to an inclusive low-carbon society. DA - 2023_ DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Climate Change and Sustainable Development LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2023 T1 - An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa TI - An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38197 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/38197
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationVan DN. An historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa. []. ,Faculty of Science ,African Climate and Development Initiative, 2023 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38197en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentAfrican Climate and Development Initiative
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Science
dc.subjectClimate Change and Sustainable Development
dc.titleAn historical political economy analysis of high-emissions low-employment development in South Africa
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMPhil
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