State of the Nation: South Africa 2008 is the fifth volume in the annual series published by the HSRC Press. This volume will feature a range of pertinent and captivating contemporary viewpoints on South African politics, society, economy and international relations. As with earlier editions, commentary is drawn from the ranks of academics, political analysts, civil society and the research community.

The new edition, State of the Nation 2012–2013, will continue to stimulate contemporary debates on key issues in a significant way, helping to shape public knowledge, policies, political actions and individual and collective decisions. The new edition will offer diverse angles on inequality and poverty in South Africa in one compelling and comprehensive collection.

The State of the Nation 2016 volume uses multiple research lenses to analyse the dynamic interface of power and authority structures that characterises the state and South African society as a dynamic constitutional democracy. The volume projects these dynamics in the context of heightening contestations around structural economic, social and political problems such as unemployment, inequality, poverty and land redistribution.

Did the transition to democracy improve the state of the South African people? This multi-disciplinary study examines the distribution of wealth, collective identity and citizen participation in civil society. In addition to an historical overview, the book registers the changes in political opinion, attitude and behaviour of South Africans from 1994 to 2000.

The slogan 'Home for all' is associated with the Western Cape provincial government and the creation of a sustainable 'home for all' is the driving goal. In order to achieve this, however, it is crucial to examine the issues impacting on and impacted by the diverse population of the province.

If you are sitting in a South African school or university right now, you need to put aside 1948 and "Bantu Education" as a primary target of enquiry – these were little more than steps along a road that was already paved – and study when, where and how your institution came into being in the first place. This book joins the growing body of work (much of it by South African scholars) displacing the many mind-numbingly dull texts loaded with assumptions and logics that, in the case of South Africa, reify a simplified colonial explanation of the past. Generations of students, educators and policymakers have suffered enough through tedious though inaccurate history books disguised as dispassionate, impartial views of "the facts."

The search for quality education in post-apartheid South Africa, quality education, interventions to improve learning and teaching, education crisis, District Development Support Programme (DDSP), Education Quality Improvement Partnership Programme (EQUIP), the IMBEWU programme, the Integrated Education Program (IEP), Khanyisa School Programme, the Learning for Living (LFL) Project, Quality Learning Project (QLP),

The South African government has prioritized a reduction of poverty and increased food security in rural parts of South Africa through agrarian transformation. As the bearers and beneficiaries of rural development initiatives, smallholder farmers, including those keeping livestock, loom large in this arena. Likewise, on international development agendas steered by bodies such as the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), smallholders are prioritized as the engines of national economies.

Over 90 per cent of the goods we use – from our smartphones to the fuel in our cars – are transported by ships. The cargo shipping industry is the most globalised industry in the world, yet we know very little about the context in which these ships operate or the ways in which seafaring labour is organised. Drawing on evidence from South Africa and the Philippines, Waves of Change provides an account of globalisation, seafaring labour markets and the state that allows us to understand how processes of globalisation unfold in this industry. The author shows that globalisation does not always mean a 'race to the bottom' for workers: labour solidarity and interventionist states shape globalisation as much as ship owners do. Scholars, policy makers, students and those with a general interest in globalisation and labour will find Waves of Change a revelatory account of an industry about which little is generally known.

The TIMSS 2019 Grade 9 study was administered in August 2019 by the Human Sciences Research Council, in collaboration with the Western Cape Education Department, the Department of Basic Education and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

This collection of essays from varying perspectives, The Zuma Administration: Critical Challenges rigorously engages with the issues facing the new South African government. The contributors provide a view into the future and explore the responsibilities that the Zuma administration must take on.