The Fragile States Index leaves more questions than it answers. Like similar global surveys, its credibility hinges on reliable data. But how sound are its statistics and their interpretation?
Disgraced Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. You can find a selection of articles The Conversation has…
In the heart of South Africa’s apartheid era, Professor Chabani Manganyi was among a handful of black psychologists offering expert testimony in the country’s courts.
South African law requires surrogate mothers to hand infants to their legal parents without undue delay. But it doesn’t provide leave for these parents to care for their infants. That is set to change.
South Africa’s response to the country’s economic woes has amounted to little more than band-aid treatment. Government must do more to set the economy on a solid growth path.
How countries manage their currencies is now more critical than ever. Nigeria has followed in the footsteps of South Africa by opting for a free-floating exchange rate regime.
It’s unclear what South Africa’s attitude will be to negotiating new deals with the UK and the EU. In the past seven years it has lost its appetite for trade deals, particularly with the developed world.
Without data, people don’t know what to believe or whom to trust. Empirical, thorough data collected by academics can help to fill important governance gaps.
A radical tightening of exchange controls against corporations and wealthy individuals offers a short-term solution to South Africa’s balance of payments crisis.
What seems to be a simple question of banks’ responsibilities is actually a major issue playing out where social security, banking, property, criminal and constitutional law intersect.
The scandal at Uganda’s Parliamentary Budget Office shows that figuring out the proper roles, functions, internal controls, and capacities is more pressing than ever.
The price of voice communication has come down in South Africa. But poor regulation and a lack of competition means that the country still has some way to go to reduce the cost of communication.
How did survivors of the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction adapt to their new, harsh environment? And why is that knowledge so important for modern species?
The retirement of Dikgang Moseneke, one of South Africa’s eminent judges and the Constitutional Court’s deputy chief justice, is a moment to reflect on the court’s place in society and his legacy.
The BRICS bank is positioning itself to play a significant role in those areas in which the international financial institutions are seen to have failed.
A senior public official has berated South Africans for rallying behind Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, calling the action unhelpful. The crisp question is: unhelpful to whom?
Leo Zeilig, School of Advanced Study, University of London
For the revolutionary Frantz Fanon it was not enough to celebrate the achievements of decolonisation. It was necessary to educate, to strain at the limits of national freedom and to provoke debate.
Menstruation is a fact of life – but in many parts of Africa, it’s something that young women dread. A South African research group is working to change this.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand