Items related to South Africa pushed to the limit: The political economy...
In this extensively revised follow-up volume to his acclaimed book "South Africa: Limits to Change", published in 2001, Hein Marais brings new insights to the country's ongoing transition from apartheid. Marais critiques the conservative economic policies that have brought spectacular wealth to the privileged but condemn 40 per cent of the population to poverty. The big winners of the transition, the book shows, have been the country's major conglomerates. The basic structure of Africa's biggest economy, however, remains largely intact and continues to serve a small minority which now also accommodates sections of the new political elite. The signal change, Marais argues, is the predominance of financial capital, which excels at the expense of the real economy but exerts enormous influence on policy. Crucially, the book also spotlights the devastating impact of three simultaneous epidemics - AIDS, tuberculosis and malnutrition. It explains how the country became the site of the world's worst AIDS epidemic, analyses the policy failures that exacerbated it, and details the havoc these epidemics are wreaking on society. Importantly, it outlines key changes for undoing the harm done. By critically surveying South Africa's route to liberation and the balance of forces that has shaped the past 15 years, this book provides a benchmark critical analysis of the long journey beyond apartheid.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
"An extraordinary achievement. This is, by a considerable margin, the best book yet on the political economy of South Africa. Marais combines an unrivalled knowledge of the literature with a prose style that is accessible, moving and witty. I know of very few authors who can discuss such complex issues while telling a story and engaging the reader." John Sender, Emeritus Professor of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. "SOUTH AFRICA PUSHED TO THE LIMIT will become a classic. I doubt whether anyone can match Marais' grasp of where South Africa is at today." Bill Freund, Professor of Economic History, University of KwaZulu-Natal; author of THE MAKING OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICA. "Combining powerful analysis with a wealth of documentation, SOUTH AFRICA PUSHED TO THE LIMIT provides by far the best overview of political, economic and social change in post-apartheid South Africa. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand one of the great social experiments of our time." Gillian Hart, Professor of Geography and Chair of Development Studies at the University of California at Berkeley; author of DISABLING GLOBALIZATION: Places of power in post-apartheid South Africa.
About the Author:
Writer HEIN MARAIS is widely regarded as one of the most trenchant and provocative analysts of South Africa today. David Welsh (Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town) has called him "probably the most intelligent and articulate author who writes about South Africa in a Marxist paradigm". His previous book, South Africa: Limits to Change - The political economy of transition (published in two editions) won wide acclaim in South Africa and abroad. It was praised as "a masterpiece" (Sean Jacobs, Assistant Professor at the New School, NYC) and deemed "essential reading" (Gillian Hart, Professor in Geography, University of California) for "break[ing] new ground both in its analysis and in its discussions of the options available to the South African left" (Adam Habib, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Johannesburg). As a writer and journalist, MARAIS has won admiration for his informed and incisive analyses of South Africa's transition, his ability to upend convenient wisdoms, and his engaging, accessible style of writing. Since the early 1990s, when he was deputy editor of Work in Progress magazine, his numerous essays and articles have been published widely in South Africa and abroad. South Africa: Limits to Change has been used in teaching curricula at all South Africa's major universities (including UNISA, Witwatersrand University, University of Cape Town, University of Johannesburg, Rhodes University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and University of the Western Cape) and at universities around the world (including the University of London, University of California, University of Toronto, Carleton University, and many others). Marais has also written two benchmark studies on South Africa's AIDS epidemic (To the Edge: AIDS policy in South Africa, and Buckling: The impact of AIDS), served as senior producer on SABC Radio's AM LIVE, and is a former chief writer for the Joint UN Programme on AIDS. His latest book, South Africa Pushed to the Limit, presents arguably the most comprehensive and bracing account yet of how far South Africa has come in its unfinished journey beyond apartheid, and where it seems headed.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherUniversity of Cape Town Press
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 191989540X
- ISBN 13 9781919895406
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages576
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want