Call for Abstracts 2018 Transforming Economics Curricula at South African Universities Economics Curriculums across the globe are under increasing pressure to transform. This interrogation has been sparked by the Great Recession and the subsequent crisis of neoclassical economics. In South Africa, the student movement has raised the issue of transforming local economics curriculums in the... Continue Reading →
SA, the Global South and the Future of Capitalism: An Interview with Prof Vivek Chibber
Zunaid Moolla, New Agenda Deputy Editor spoke to Vivek Chibber while he was on a speaking tour of South Africa. He is a Professor of Sociology at New York University ZM: You have been to South African several times now. Do you see or hear anything different with this visit? VC: No. I have... Continue Reading →
IFAA Statement on the Resignation of President Jacob Zuma
IFAA Statement Re: Resignation by President Zuma The Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) welcomes the resignation of President Jacob Zuma and believes it is long overdue. The public and private life of Jacob Zuma since the Schabir Shaik trial has been filled with misconduct and dubious practices. His record as a senior person in government... Continue Reading →
CSIR: South African Players in R & D-An Interview with Sibusiso Sibisi
Sibusiso Sibisi is chief executive officer of the CSIR, South Africa’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. They don’t make many headlines, but CSIR research and development is opening the way for new made-in- SA technology and enterprises. Ben Turok: Is it true that CSIR was founded mainly to meet the needs of the defence... Continue Reading →
Nervousness in Davos: An interview with Dr Rob Davies, Minister of trade and industry
Ben Turok spoke to Dr. Davies who attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2017 as part of the South African delegation. BEN TUROK: Did anything particularly interesting come out of the recent World Economic Forum meeting in Davos? Quite a big delegation from South Africa attended. ROB DAVIES: The World... Continue Reading →
Ideas and Power: Academic Economists and the Making of Policy
From the struggle years of the mid-1980s to the gearshift of the mid-1990s, progressive academic economists played a tangled role in the development of South Africa’s post-apartheid economic policy. Vishnu Padayachee is distinguished professor and Derek Schrier and Cecily Cameron Chair in Development Economics, School of Economics and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. For the progressive... Continue Reading →
Co-operatives in South Africa and Beyond
Alternative approaches to economic development are gaining popularity in many countries. Co-ops may not be considered an alternative approach because they’ve been around for several decades and probably precede the onset of capitalism. In this article IFAA Student and Youth coordinator Rekang Jankie looks at the status of co- ops in South Africa. Drawing comparisons with... Continue Reading →
Black Solidarity and the Quest of a Non-Racial Humanity: Biko’s Enduring Political Dilemma
Dr M John Lamola writes that, Steve Biko’s philosophy of Black Consciousness argued that a racially defined black solidarity could bring about a nonracial future in South Africa. This apparent paradox calls for an examination of the dialectical thinking upon which it was built. Black solidarity, “the realisation by blacks of the need to rally around... Continue Reading →
Minerals are Not Forever: IFAA study for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
In 2016 IFAA was commissioned to do a study on mineral value chains in South Africa and Africa. The study was done by Ben Turok (lead consultant) with chapters by Anthony Black, Michael Kahn, Chris Callaghan, Pundy Pillay and Richard Levin, supported by IFAA staff. We reproduce parts of the final chapter since the findings, conclusions... Continue Reading →
