Brian Levy teaches at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He was the founding academic director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town.
Both South Africa and the United States wrestle with severe inequality, polarization, and the corrosion of democratic institutions. South Africa’s experiences provide important lessons for the United States’ own governance challenges.
In this symposium, prominent experts engage with the authors of the recent major Carnegie paper, “South Africa: When Strong Institutions and Massive Inequalities Collide,” to probe these tensions and the prospects for South Africa political and economic future.
South Africa's economic and social imbalances can no longer be swept under the rug. The country has three choices: muddle through, endure another surge of ethnopopulism, or pursue inclusive development.
No issue in international development is as important, or vexing, as the relationship between governance and development.
The once relatively separate communities of democracy aid and development aid have in recent years become increasingly interconnected as developmentalists acknowledge the importance of taking politics into account and accept governance as a factor in developmental success.