Monographs & Books

Overcoming Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation Implementation in Southern Africa

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:52:09 +0100

Global climate change is possibly the greatest environmental challenge facing the world in the twenty-first century. Although often referred to as ‘global warming’, climate change encompasses serious disruptions to the world’s entire weather and climate patterns, including impacts on rainfall, extreme weather events and rising sea-levels, as well as moderate to extreme global temperature increases. Like most other developing countries in the world, Southern Africa nations are findin...

Somaliland

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:04:17 +0100

‘This study contributes significantly to our understanding not only of Somaliland, but of the predicament of the Somali people as a whole… a major scholarly success.’ – Professor Ali Mazrui, Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities, Binghamton University.

Well-Kept Secrets

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:02:51 +0100

South Africa’s democratic constitution entrenches citizens’ right of access to information held by the state. In this volume, the author – who previously held a senior position in the intelligence community – assesses whether the post-apartheid intelligence services have complied with this obligation during the first decade following South Africa’s transition to democracy.

Rethinking Natural Resources In Southern Africa

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:01:27 +0100

Despite its rich endowment of natural resources, Africa remains one of the poorest continents in the world. Many African countries experience the ‘double trap of resource-based nations,’ namely that a continued reliance on the export of finite and diminishing natural resources also result in continued environmental degradation. Women, and particularly rural women, often bear the brunt of this unsustainable economic model.

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Dilemmas of Poverty and Development

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:00:05 +0100

From 2006 to 2008, the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) and the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) participated in the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy, aimed at evolving new solutions to global problems. Their contribution took the form of exploring the nexus between poverty and development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). More specifically, they have evolved a proposed new policy framework for achieving sustainable development in the region, among oth...

Gender Instruments in Africa

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:58:01 +0100

The rights of women are occupying an increasingly important place in the global – and Africa – political discourse. African governments have committed themselves to a growing number of instruments for protecting and promoting the rights of women, yet implementation continues to lag. In May 2005 the Institute for Global Dialogue held a ground-breaking workshop at which analysts and activists from numerous African countries surveyed gender instruments applicable to Africa, identified factors in...

The Future of Palestine and Israel: from colonial roots to postcolonial realities

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:56:09 +0100

NOW in its sixth decade, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a major challenge in world politics and the root cause of polarisation in the region and elsewhere. This timeous study brings together scholars, politicians, and activists of varying persuasions who examine the multidimensional aspects of the conflict.

China, Africa and South Africa: South-South co-operation in a global era

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:53:26 +0100

'Few subjects are as complicated as China’s African policy and the motives behind it...' - Emmanuel J Hevi

CHINA'S growing engagement with Africa has major implications for both sides, and has added an important strategic context to South-South co-operation.

In this volume, two leading South African scholars examine this dynamic which takes on added meaning because of the new Sino-South African axis.

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From the Lagos Plan of Action to the New Partnership for Africa's Development

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:52:13 +0100

This innovative study illuminates the possibilities and pitfalls of regional efforts to promote African development. Comparing the two most prominent initiatives of the past quarter century, Ikome accounts for the shift from an inward-looking strategy of ‘collective self-reliance’ to one embracing economic globalisation and ‘good governance’.

China in Africa

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:51:26 +0100

China's rapid rise to global prominence has become the cause of much debate, reflection, and concern. This topic is especially relevant and of profound consequence to Africa, given China's considerable and growing presence on the continent and the similarities and differences in circumstances and development trajectories between it and African countries.

A People's Constitution

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:50:44 +0100

In May 1994, less than two weeks after the South Africa’s first democratic election, a constitutional assembly was formed to draft a final constitution. The assembly understood that in order for the constitution to have legitimacy, the people of South Africa had to be involved in creating it.

Trade Liberalisation and Environment Linkages

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:49:50 +0100

This book presents a compilation of papers by a diverse range of authors and summaries of the discussions at an IGD workshop. The focus is on trade liberalisation and WTO rules on the environment and natural resources and their interface with national trade policy and challenges of sustainable development.

The UN at 60

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:47:53 +0100

Since its establishment in 1945, the United Nations has cast a long shadow across global affairs. Its 60th anniversary provided analysts with an opportunity to reflect on its past successes as well as its future challenges.

The Southern African Development Community

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:46:47 +0100

This book, published in July 2006, significantly complements the burgeoning literature on regional integration in Africa. It is the most up-to-date guide to SADC's history and institutions, its policies and programmes, legal underpinnings and position in unfolding continental and global affairs. It offers a frank analysis of SADC's shortcomings, achievements and prospects and reviews its extensive restructuring.

The transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:45:39 +0100

In order to understand the challenges facing this country that has suffered the ravages of war and plunder, the IGD convened a symposium in Pretoria, South Africa in May 2005. The symposium invited the participation of all the major political parties and civil society groupings in the DRC to evaluate the situation and examine the prospects for enduring peace and political change.

La Cote d'Ivoire

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:44:12 +0100

This report represents proceedings of a roundtable discussion hosted and organised by the IGD in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire in November 2005. Its purpose was to bring together a broad cross-section of concerned parties to discuss the state of the country's transition to peace and democracy.

Southern Africa 2020 - five different scenarios

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:42:17 +0100

It is the year 2020. Has violent conflict turned most of southern Africa into an ‘arc of chaos’, marked by collapsed states and widespread starvation? Has sustained economic growth, guided by a new generation of committed leaders, begun to make inroads into poverty and inequality? Or have corrupt elites allowed the region to slide into decay?

Gender Instruments in Africa

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:40:27 +0100

Gender instruments in Africa. Critical perspectives, future strategies. Ten years after the Beijing Conference on Women, and 30 years after the first United Nations Conference on Women, the situation of women in Africa has not improved. This also holds true for all other regions of the world, as governments admitted at the Beijing+10 meeting in New York in March 2005.

South African Foreign Policy after apartheid

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:38:27 +0100

Foreign policy is widely regarded as one of the post-apartheid government’s major areas of achievement, yet remains one of the most challenging. In this volume, leading scholars provide critical assessments of the conduct of South African foreign policy since 1994 against the background of six principles articulated by Nelson Mandela in a celebrated article published in the journal Foreign Affairs in 1993.

Enter the Dragon

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:32:31 +0100

Towards a free trade agreement between China and the Southern African Customs Union. South Africa and its partners in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) – Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland – are considering negotiating a free trade agreement with China. Given China’s growing economic power, this initiative has far-reaching implications which have to be carefully weighed.

The making of a region - The revival of the East African Community

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:09:15 +0100

The revival of the East African Community (EAC) – comprising Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda – is one of the most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. The first EAC was regarded as a promising experiment in regional economic integration on the continent, but collapsed painfully in 1977.