A Region Without Borders? Policy Frameworks for Regional Labour Migration Towards South Africa

Despite the long history of international migration in the region, Southern Africa lacks an official governance system to manage cross-border movement of persons and labour migration. Such migration is occurring at an increasing pace with the globalisation of the world economy, and South Africa attracts the largest number of cross-border migrants from Southern Africa. There is evidence that South Africa’s current responses to the reality of regional migration in Southern Africa do not provide the most optimal solutions to the phenomenon. This policy brief, therefore, makes the case for the Southern African Customs Union to establish itself as a regional migration policy laboratory, where new innovations could be introduced before considering a potential/incremental expansion to the SADC region.MiWORCMigrating out of Povert

Conclusion - building regions from below : has the time come for regionalism 2.0?

In a changing world ridden with crises and characterised by a general redistribution of power, regional organisations need to reinvent themselves. Equally, the study of regionalism has to reject its traditional Eurocentrism to embrace new conceptual categories in order to describe more effectively the variety of regional processes across the world. Against this background, this article looks at the European project and its current crisis before discussing other regional ‘experiments’ in Africa, Asia and Latin America, which rest on different principles but also manifest considerable shortcomings. The analysis points to the need to look at regionalism with a critical eye, emphasizing the undeniably important achievements but also the hidden threats that a certain model of regional integration (for instance, the classical top-down elite-driven process adopted by the EU founding fathers) can pose to the sustainability of regional cohesion and the adaptability of this model to other areas of the worldhttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rspe20hb2017Political Science

The world's most powerful number : an assessment of 80 years of GDP ideology

The world‟s most powerful number, the gross domestic product (GDP), was invented exactly 80 years ago.1 It was indeed in 1934 that a young economist by the name of Simon Kuznets (who would later on receive a Nobel Prize for this) presented his first report on the design of national income accounts to the US congress.2 Those were the hard times of the Great Depression and governments were desperately seeking some type of indicator to gauge if and how the economy was recovering. GDP did exactly that: it conflated the amount of spending for goods and services into one single number, which would go up in good times and down in bad times. A few years later, the Second World War, with its massive need for a top-down command over economic activities, sealed the close relationship between GDP and politics. Indeed, the availability of regular and detailed statistics on the strengths and weaknesses of the economy helped the American government outpace its enemies in terms of munitions‟ production. More importantly, it allowed for the conversion of the civilian economy into a war machine without hampering internal consumption, which turned out to be a major advantage in generating revenues for the war (thus avoiding bottlenecks such as those experienced by Hitler‟s war economy) and propelling large-scale consumption in the post-war period.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8322hb201

South Africa’s perceptions of the EU in energy governance : a partner in decline?

The European Union (EU) and South Africa have a longstanding relationship, which includes political and economic partnerships, thus providing a critical test case for norms diffusion. In the past few years, however, this relationship has changed and new powers have come into the picture, especially Brazil, China, India and Russia (BRIC), affording new opportunities for agency to South Africa in dealing with norms emanating from Europe. The field of energy governance, with its crucial impact on both climate change and sustainable development, is likely to become a critical terrain of policy cooperation in the near future. This article discusses pioneering research on how South Africa perceives the EU’s role in energy governance against the backdrop of the growing influence of the BRICs. It reviews media images and uses them as a proxy of public discourse in South Africa. Our data shows that while the EU is a critical partner for South Africa, its public image in the country is in decline in the field of energy governance, with growing relevance occupied by the BRICs countries.http://www.springer.com/political+science/journal/412952017-12-31hb2016Political Science

Measuring the enabling environment of civil society : a global capability index

During the last two decades, there have been various attempts at measuring and assessing the health of civil society. Some have focused almost exclusively on „counting‟ the nonprofit while others have assessed the strength of nongovernmental organizations. Yet, these sectors are just a small part of a much larger environment. Moreover, they are the result of Western conceptualizations of civil society, thus not very helpful to understand civic participation in non-Western settings. Taking stock of these fundamental issues, this article presents the conceptual framework and methodology of a new global index to measure the „enabling environment‟ of civil society, rather than its forms and institutional contours. Given the inherent diversity of civil societies worldwide, which defies any attempt at developing predetermined definitions, understanding the conditions that support civic participation becomes the most important objective for those interested in promoting a strong civil society arena. The index was launched by CIVICUS in late 2013 with the name of Enabling Environment Index and covers 200 countries and territories, making it the most ambitious attempt ever made at measuring civil society worldwide.http://link.springer.com/journal/112662016-04-30hb201

The evolution of EU–South Africa relations : what influence on Africa?

South Africa and the European Union (EU) have a longstanding relationship. Their interaction has evolved through various phases, characterised simultaneously by ambitious partnerships coupled with a degree of wariness. As international dynamics change and Africa becomes an increasingly crucial player in global politics, the relationship between the EU and South Africa exerts a host of influences on how Africa and Europe relate to each other. This article discusses the evolution of EU–South Africa relations and highlights direct and indirect influences that this relationship has on the inter-regional partnership between Africa and Europe.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsaj202017-06-30hb201

Accountability, democracy, and post-growth : civil society rethinking political economy and finance

Since the fall of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, the economic downturn hastaken a heavy toll on many countries. In the public and academic discourse on necessaryremedies and reforms, the spotlight is on the role of political elites and business. The actual and potential role of civil society is hardly mentioned in these debates. Yet, it is within civil societythat an alternative paradigm and fundamental rethinking of conventional wisdom may emerge. Inthis collection, we present three different ways to frame the crisis and explore the correspondingroles of civil society actors: Reinforcing public accountability, regaining democracy, and exploring post-growth scenarios. Our goal is to investigate the potentially transformative role of civil society in order to reflect on possible paths towards social change that are not merelyremedial but also (re-)constructive in nature.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcis20hj201

Public and elite views on Europe vs. China in Africa

Europe has been the privileged economic and political partner of Africa, but more recently China has increased its foothold in Africa through important financial investments and trade agreements. Against this backdrop, our empirical research conducted in 2007-2008 in Kenya and South Africa as part of a pioneering international project investigates the perceptions of public opinion, political leaders, civil society activists and media operators. While confirming their continent’s traditional proximity to Europe, African citizens are increasingly interested in China and its impact on Africa’s development. While African civil society leaders and media operators describe China as an opportunity for Africa to break free from its historical dependence on European markets, other opinion leaders warn against too much enthusiasm with the Asian giant. On the one hand, Europe is increasingly criticized for not having been able to dismiss the traditionally ‘patronizing’ attitude towards Africa. On the other hand, China is expected to bring a breath of fresh air into the African context, although there is still suspicion that the Chinese strategy might, in the long run, turn into a new form of economic patronage.This research is part of the international project ‘External Perception of the EU’, sub-project ‘The Visibility of the European Union as a Development Actor in South and East Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific’ (2006-ongoing), coordinated by the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE) at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rspe2

Civil society, crisis, and change : towards a theoretical framework

This concluding essay frames the actual and potential role of civil society actors in terms of institutional theory, complemented by Gramscian thought. Global finance is conceived as an institutionalized field in need of structural change triggered by institutional entrepreneurs. Reviewing the nature of problems, it becomes clear that only a wide—if probably quite loose— coalition of different actors will effect the necessary profound change. However, no such coalition is in view today. Issues related to power, wealth, and ideology are put forward as a possible explanation. We then explore the relevance of Gramsci’s theory of the ‘modern prince’as a challenger of ‘cultural hegemony’ for a response to these problems. We suppose that civil society actors have a fair chance to accomplish societal reconstruction, provided that they step up the effort in a more coordinated way and take into account the inevitable conflict it will generate.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcis20hb201

The will to integrate : South Africa’s responses to regional migration from the SADC region

This paper surveys frameworks of labour migration in southern Africa and determines South Africa’s policy responses to inflows of migrants from seven neighbouring countries. Legislations, policy reports and scientific publications on migration were thoroughly reviewed and interviews and correspondence with key policymakers were conducted. Statistical analyses of data on foreign worker recruitments and permits issued by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs were also performed. The absence of a migration protocol in southern Africa suggests SADC Members have not implemented the African Union’s migration policy basic guidelines. Two systems coexist in southern Africa that complicate migration governance: a South Africa‐managed bilateral migration policy, and aspirations for a formal SADC‐managed migration policy. Bilateral agreements between South Africa and neighbours have established a labour migration system that dims prospects for a regional migration policy. SACU Members could establish a two‐tier policy to achieve free movement while maintaining managed migration policy outside SACU. An official multilateral migration governance mechanism would serve SADC better than the current ad‐hoc measures.The European Union, in the framework of the EU‐South Africa Dialogue Facility (EuropeAid/132200/L/ACT/ZA), funded part of the research.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8268am201