Working Paper

2015-05-28

University of Cape Town

In a dramatic few years, South Africa shifted from being trapped in an apparently intractable conflict between a dominant white minority and an oppressed black majority to being a democratic state with an outstanding progressive liberal constitution. It moved from being the epitome of racial conflict to a model of peaceful transition. And yet, twenty years later, the cracks in the settlement are all too clear and the risks of internal conflict are growing. The transition is truncated.

The paper was prepared under the umbrella of the DFID-funded and University of Manchester-led global comparative Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) research program – South Africa is one of the countries targeted for comparative ESID research -- as an analytical platform for more in-depth, targeted research. The ESID program has provided funding for in-depth research on the politics and governance of basic education in South Africa, and for research on business-state relations in South Africa (both part of a broader multi-country comparative study); and for some initial case studies on the politics and governance of infrastructural state-owned enterprises. We thank Anthony Black, Dave Kaplan and Nicoli Nattrass for their helpful comments.