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Governance and inequality: Benchmarking and interpreting South Africa’s evolving political settlement

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  • Brian Levy
  • Alan Hirsch
  • Ingrid Woolard

Abstract

Has South Africa’s political settlement provided a constructive platform for successfully addressing the country’s deep-seated economic challenges in an inclusive way? Or is it increasingly consolidating as a settlement which is narrowly of and for elites (albeit in importantly different ways from its apartheid predecessor)? This paper addresses these questions, and reexamines the foundations of the democracy in an attempt to understand the obstacles to South Africa moving into a truly sustainable democracy. It provides a broad overview of South Africa’s evolving political settlement and the capability and commitment of the South African state (and the elites which underpin it) to deliver inclusive development. The political settlement analysis is anchored in a comparative assessment of evolving patterns of income distribution across countries and over time. The paper offers reflections on how the challenges going forward for South Africa might be addressed.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Levy & Alan Hirsch & Ingrid Woolard, 2015. "Governance and inequality: Benchmarking and interpreting South Africa’s evolving political settlement," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-051-15, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:bwp:bwppap:esid-051-15
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Levy, Brian, 2014. "Working with the Grain: Integrating Governance and Growth in Development Strategies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199363810, Decembrie.
    2. North,Douglass C. & Wallis,John Joseph & Webb,Steven B. & Weingast,Barry R. (ed.), 2013. "In the Shadow of Violence," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107014213.
    3. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    4. North,Douglass C. & Wallis,John Joseph & Webb,Steven B. & Weingast,Barry R. (ed.), 2013. "In the Shadow of Violence," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107684911.
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    Cited by:

    1. Janina Hundenborn & Ingrid Woolard & Jon Jellema, 2019. "The effect of top incomes on inequality in South Africa," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(5), pages 1018-1047, October.
    2. Robert Cameron & Brian Levy, 2016. "The potential and limits of performance management: Improving basic education in the Western Cape," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-062-16, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Llewellyn Leonard, 2018. "Mining Corporations, Democratic Meddling, and Environmental Justice in South Africa," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Brian Levy & Robert Cameron & Ursula Hoadley & Vinothan Naidoo, 2016. "The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-067-16, GDI, The University of Manchester.

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