M.A. / Many studies of regional disparity in South Africa have focused on rural and urban developmental inequality. This research essay sets out to create an exploratory understanding based on an in-depth analysis of South African provincial inequality. The analysis was done by examining the theories related to economic development and then by analysing current economic development. The purpose of this research is to determine the cause of the widening developmental gap among different provinces in South Africa. Case studies were used to examine the widening poverty gap in countries such as Indonesia, Canada and China within the context of their experiences of provincial developmental disparities. Budget allocation and programmes such as IDP and IDZ are discussed within the context of examining whether the SA provincial disparity is diverging or converging.

Thesis (PhD (Public Affairs))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (M. A. (Political Science)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007.

South Africa’s unresolved land question has material and ideational dimensions. While undeniably crucial to resolving the land question, the material dimension has created tension and conflict. Therefore, this thesis considers the necessary but insufficient material approach to South Africa’s land question after 2013 and, as a supplementary response, introduces social constructionism and the inherent ideational context as an extension to the material. Social constructionism emphasises the social origins of knowledge and the articulation of language for the construction of multiple realities by actors with different identities who use structures and agency to construct distinctive social communities and networks. Drawing on primary data sources such as the Hansard, television interviews, speeches and personally authored documents explicitly involving party leaders Julius Sello Malema (EFF) and Petrus Johannes Groenewald (FF+) as political elites, the methodology entails a qualitative content analysis of their ‘land language’ from 2013 to 2019. In this regard, Malema and Groenewald have articulated conflictual, diversifying and unifying ‘land language’ to construct social networks and communities that emerge from their differing realities leading to hostility, fear and confrontation. It shows that despite the hostility, fear and confrontation over the land question there is also, to a degree, ‘land language’ contributing to an imagined pluralistic security community with dependable expectations of peaceful change. As an ideational response, a security community integrates social communities and networks to engender an over-arching sense of we-ness. We-ness is achievable by advancing societal interest, promoting human dignity and inculcating compassion as a virtue to introduce dependable expectations of peaceful change when considering South Africa’s post-2013 land question. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Political Sciences / PhD / Unrestricted

M.Comm. / This study attempts to investigate the validity of Wagner’s law and the Keynesian perspective of a long-run relationship and causality between government expenditure and economic growth in SADC countries from 1988 to 2004. In order to determine the existence of the long-run relationship and causality, a univariate analysis is carried out to assess whether panel series are integrated at the same order. Subsequently, this study finds that all panel series under investigation are indeed integrated of the same order. Therefore, the second stage consists of assessing whether there is cointegration between government expenditure and economic growth. This study applies two procedures of panel cointegration, namely, the Pedroni panel cointegration test and the Kao panel cointegration test. Both procedures find that certainly a long-run relationship exists between government expenditure and economic growth in the SADC. Moreover, since two equations are estimated in this study, there is unidirectional causality. In both equation 1 and 2, the study finds that economic growth Granger causes government expenditure in both the long and the short-run which is consistent with the Wagner’s law than the Keynesian stance.

ABSTRACT This research investigates the role played by external actors in contemporary African civil conflicts with specific attention to South Africa’s leading role in addressing Burundi’s intractable civil conflict. The inquiry was guided by looking at SA’s efforts in managing Burundi’s peace process in partnership with key external parties such as the Regional Initiative for peace in Burundi, AU and the UN; and by examining the level of success of SA’s involvement in the peace process and limitations encountered in pursuing diplomatic/political and military efforts aimed at resolving the civil conflict. The theories of conflict resolution and protracted social change, and scholarly and policy literature on intervention were drawn upon to frame the research. The struggle for political power explains the key root cause to Burundi’s civil conflict; rival politicians manipulated ethnicity and the past injustices, which are rooted in colonial policies of divide and rule, as tools in an attempt to accede to power and thereby, gain economic advantage at the expense of others. SA diplomatic efforts played an important role in addressing this by advocating for political and military power sharing. In order to reconcile and manage differences in approaches that were advocated to deal with the Burundi civil conflict, SA mobilized for support in Burundi’s neighbouring countries so as to back a peaceful solution to address the conflict. Further, in an effort to bolster its troops and, therefore, expand operations designed to promote peace in Burundi, SA had to merge into the African Mission in Burundi, and cooperate with the UN in order for the latter to render impetus to the peace process by, providing necessary resources and political support for the Burundi peace mission, and subsequently to assume the mission by taking over from the African mission. Although SA’s troop deployment provided protection for the former Hutu exile politicians and thereby, encouraged them to participate in negotiations and the transitional government, which participation increased chances of success in the peace process, however, SA did not do much in peacekeeping under the UN due to inadequate military equipments; civilians continued to be killed in the presence of SA troops, even though, under the UN their role extended to include civilian protection. To the extent that SA’s intensive diplomatic efforts resulted in the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, however, a number of Burundian parties did not participate in the signing of the agreement and the rebel movements were excluded from the process. Thus, the Arusha peace process failed to attain consensus in addressing Burundi’s contentious issues. Although the UN peacekeepers in Burundi, of which SA was part, had a Chapter VII mandate to enforce the peace of which civilian protection was part of their mission, they did not exercise it. Intervention was constrained by the Burundian government; they argued that the ultimate authority in maintaining security throughout the country rested on them. Moreover, it is difficult if not impossible to observe UN traditional peacekeeping norms while at the same time having to implement the responsibility to protect, which has been occasioned by the post-Cold War world, in which human rights have gained wider recognition, and international norms of sovereignty and nonintervention redefined. Thus, strict observance of the UN traditional peacekeeping norms, inhibit intervention aimed to protect civilians facing catastrophic circumstances or under imminent threat.

This thesis studies the integration of South Africa into the global economy. It uses a structural dynamic factor model approach, instead of the well known structural vector autoregressive method, as it accommodates a large panel of time series variables characterized by a number of series significantly larger than the number of observations available. South African economic cycles show some comovement with cycles of its trading partners. But the synchronization with major trading partners has declined over time due to structural reforms initiated by the post-apartheid government. A new monetary regime, trade and financial openness, an increase in political stability together with reduced uncertainty have outweighed South African output comovement with the rest of the world. Shocks from advanced economies (the US and the EU) and East Asian countries, especially demand shocks, affect domestic variables significantly. The main channels are business and consumer confidence, trade variables, interest rates, and the exchange rate. Although South Africa comoves with Latin American countries, trade and financial linkages are still very weak. The level of development, perceptions of economic agents, and fluctuations of advanced economies (the US and the EU) are the main reasons contributing to the synchronization of their variables. South Africa’s position in Africa as economic leader starts to produce results leading to output synchronization with some of its partners’ from SADC. Similar to the Latin American scenario, the main reason is that the two sides share the EU as primary trading partner. Because of the vulnerability of the South African economy, policymakers must pay a particular attention and monitor closely developments in the global economy. In the same line, they should promote policies that enable the country to have access to international markets. Given the interdependence with the rest of the world, policymakers should monitor closely the performance of the global economy. Nevertheless, idiosyncratic features of the South African economy do play a role in the explaining fluctuations in economic activity. Hence, policies that lead to a structural transformation of the domestic economy are necessary. Reforms that allow labor market flexibility; promote competition; and support human capital formation through education, are imperative. / Doctor Francisco Nadal De Simone Professor Daniel Marais

The untenable inequalities and suffering experienced by Africans blatantly exposes that a lot more than simple developmental ‘lag’, lack of economic ‘growth’, ‘governance’, or a shaky ‘investment climate’ inhibits Africa’s legitimately progressive human development. This dissertation calls for and probes a serious reflection on the roots of the concepts broadly understood as ‘African Integration’ and ‘African Renaissance’ in light of how the space we call Africa has been constructed across centuries, serving very particular interests to effect modernity’s meta-narrative into reality, subsequently positioning Africa at the periphery of the periphery of its hierarchical ordering. Narratives, defined as a distinct form of discourse as retrospective meaning-making are effective stories manifesting the conscious experience of every ‘thing’ in the universe. How Africa’s ‘story’ has been constructed, and how its actual story diverges from the convergence theories of the colonial-imperial-globalisation project are this dissertation’s major focus. It deeply mines what Foucault exposed as global technologies-of-power, to elucidate the negative impacts of northern-centric discourses on Africa’s ‘self’, from individuated to collective aspects of that ‘self’. This dissertation draws attention to how Africa’s eco-social justice practices vindicate particular scientific, cultural, and social emancipatory discourses, and democratic theories emphatic that the monumental task of de-colonising Africa’s minds from meta-narrative constructions should prioritise, and inform developmental continental policy design. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The intention of this thesis is to assess the World Bank's SAPs as the principal economic impediment to implementing an RBA to NEPAD. This assessment is sought to contribute to calculating the feasibility for implementation. It is assumed that the RBA is the best approach currently available to further the significant cause of sustainable human, social and economic development in developing countries generally, and in Africa in particular. Sustainable development in Africa is recognised as an extremely significant step in promoting peace and security on the continent and internationally. Various NGOs, development institutes and scholars have argued that NEPAD lacks an RBA to development. However, while the critics are many, the question has not been voiced as to the obstacles Africa and international society face in applying an RBA to NEPAD. In an attempt to narrow this gap, the World Bank's SAPs are analysed. It has been shown many times that adjustment programmes do not adhere to the human rights standards spelled out, in particular, in the articles of the ICESCR. In addition, SAPs fail to incorporate human rights principles such as participation and accountability. Consequently, because SAPs are not based on international human rights standards and principles, they do not fulfil the requirements of an RBA to development. It follows that the approach cannot be applied to NEPAD as long as the World Bank's SAPs fail to adhere to these standards and principles and, thus, lead to the violation of people's human rights in developing countries. To reach a reasonable conclusion on the Bank's current human rights practices, its employment of SAPs in developing countries is analysed. Moreover, David Held's regime of liberal international sovereignty is examined and applied to this case. Both investigations discover independently of each other that the implementation of an RBA to NEPAD is unrealistic under the current circumstances.