State of the State: Institutional Transformation, Capacity and political Change in South Africa

The State of the State breaks new ground by exploring political and social issues about the nature of the South African state in the 1990s and early twenty-first century. Picard argues that the structural legacies of the apartheid state embedded in the planning, bureaucratic, and administrative systems of government have a continuing influence on the success of the new democratic government in South Africa. The thesis is that political and bureaucratic institutions are important. The book examines the nature of such institutions in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa by focusing in particular on continuity and change in relation to issues such as affirmative action, patronage, and corruption.

Louis A. Picard is a professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Development, University of Pittsburgh, United States.

"The State of the State breaks new ground by exploring political and socio-economic issues about the nature of the South African state from the 1990s through the early 21st century. Picard argues that the structural legacies of the apartheid state, embedded in governmental planning, bureaucratic and educational systems, have a continuing impact on the new democratic government in South Africa. The author argues that political and bureaucratic institutions are both important and limiting." This book will appeal to a wide readership ranging from students of history, politics and policy at undergraduate and postgraduate level to professionals studying public administration and management. It should also appeal to practitioners in the field and to people interested more broadly in the history of the state in South Africa and the nature of the transition which took place in the 1990s.