Peace-Making in Divided Societies

The Israel-South Africa analogy

The social and economic successes of Asia have drawn global attention to the developmental state as a possible model for developing countries. In South Africa, many, including government, see this as a possible panacea to the country's social, economic and institutional crises. However, a government committing itself to constructing a developmental state is one thing; actually implementing the necessary institutional and policy reforms to bring that into reality is another.

Democracy and Delivery: Urban Policy in South Africa tells the story of urban policy and its formulation in South Africa. As such, it provides an important resource for present and future urban policy processes.

South Africa is a rapidly urbanising society. Over 60% of the population lives in urban areas and this will rise to more than 70% by 2030. However, it is also a society with a long history of labour migration, rural home-making and urban economic and residential insecurity.

State of the Nation 2018 covers a diversity of perspectives that highlight the interrelationship and intersectionality between structural, economic, cultural and psychosocial dimensions of the South African social experience. Specifically, the authors analyse the complexity of poverty and inequality beyond an over-determination of the economic and the wealth index in South Africa.