Suchergebnisse

South Africa's public discourse has been largely influenced by the recent student protests in higher education. Government officials, student leaders, higher education officials and the general populance have all participated in this national debate. This youth activism is led by various student political formations using the popular slogan of 'FeesMustFall' to mobilise their peers and broader society. Student leaders argue that the main strategic objective is to achieve free decolonised higher education. This article explores the socio-economic and political context driving these student marches across the country. It argues that the protest action is primarily caused by the following two phenomena: first, the broader societal discontent with persistent class, race and gender inequalities in South Africa. Second, the negative socio-economic impacts of a neo-colonial corporatised higher education model. The student demands are discussed in relation to these two broad structural trends associated with the transition to liberal democracy in South Africa. My core contention is that the student movement proposals are crucial for restructuring the neo-colonial corporate university.

Prominent development institutions and researchers have documented the ascendance of China in the global political economy and mainly explored how the global balance of power is affected by China's growing economic expansion. Political economists have argued that it is part of the generic economic power shift from the global north to south whilst security studies place emphasis on Chinese national geopolitical interests in several regions. This article discusses what lessons can be drawn from China's developmental state experience and how these can inform Sub-Saharan African developmental strategies. We argue that China's rise has been driven by both market and non-market institutions and show how peculiar contextual historical and socio-political factors have been integral to building the Chinese developmental state. This demonstrates the importance of building effective state institutions to support sustainable economic growth and human development. We highlight the principles shaping institutional mechanisms relating to the rapid economic growth and argue that African governments should apply these in their attempts to rebuild state capacity. However, we also point out that negative trends such as authoritarianism and persistent inequality should not be replicated. Rather, Sub-Saharan Africa should build democratic developmental states characterised by pro-poor sustainable inclusive growth.

Lopes, C.: Reinserting African agency into Sino-African relations. - S. 50-68

Racism after Apartheid, volume four of the Democratic Marxism series, brings together leading scholars and activists from around the world studying and challenging discrimination and injustice. They examine post-apartheid racism and relations of oppression, challenging Marxism and anti-racism to consistently attempt to build human solidarities.