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Kerala suffers less from clientelism, authoritarianism, and neo-liberalism than many other parts of the world, but it is affected by the universal dilemma of how to unify numerous actors and build democratic links between the local, the wider government, and the economy. This article’s comparative insights indicate that the state requires democratic partnership governance to
A study by Sheffield Hallam University has urged the world’s leading panel manufacturers not to source materials from Xinjiang.
African despots – including those who were elected into office – do not take kindly to criticism by scholars, as the case of Sishuwa Sishuwa reminds us. Active in both the world of scholarship and that of public debate, Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa is one of the young turks of African political history. After completing his PhD at Oxford, Sishuwa was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Zambia (Unza). He is currently on official leave from Unza in the University of Cape Town’s Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa. It has been reported that Sishuwa is to be c...
The devastating fire at the University of Cape Town on 18 April 2021 raises questions about the character and governance of South African universities. Are our universities collective projects, communities in which scholars, students and support staff work together? Or are they hierarchical businesses run by managers, of employees, for customers? The university’s response to the fire reminds us of the importance of community, the role of the university in society and the limits to managerialism. Anyone who has written or read the acknowledgements in scholarly publications knows that scholar...
What kind of industrial policy is required to reverse deindustrialisation in South Africa? Bhaso Ndzendze and Tshilidzi Marwala recently opined that South Africa’s industrial policy needs to adjust to the “realities” of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) by using artificial intelligence and big data to identify markets. This, they suggest, will create and support jobs in “smart” factories (based on the “Internet of Things”) and combat unemployment, poverty and inequality. This is wishful thinking. It imagines that South Africa, like the mythical African country of Wakanda in...