Essays on the Evolution of the Post-Apartheid State

The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), which was publicly launched as a think tank in March 2011, was founded to create a platform for engagement around strategic issues facing South Africa. It combines research and academic development, strategic reflections and intellectual discourse, and applies itself to issues such as economics, sociology, governance, history, arts and culture, and the logics of natural sciences. Essays on the evolution of the post-apartheid state: Legacies, reforms and prospects is a collection of essays by independent scholars and reports. This publication is intended to generate strategic reflection beyond issues to do with the day-to-day chores of governance. The views across the essays may not be entirely consistent; and the issues they raise may be contentious. This merely affirms the truism that the State is a contested terrain. The aim is to deepen the search for an understanding of the theory of the state as it applies to a transforming society such as ours, and to trudge the dividing line between theory and practice so they can feed into each other in a progressive spiral towards the desired 'end-state'.

"The state is the single most significant institution in the management of social relations. It is a concentrated expression of power and a platform of contestation among various sectors of society. Within nations undergoing social transformation, the centrality of the state is multiplied manifold." - Joel Netshitenzhe.

Mcebisi Ndletyana held research positions at various research institutions including the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) at Doornfontein, and at the Steve Biko Foundation in Braamfontein before joining MISTRA. He has also held lecturing positions at the Marymount Manhattan College in New York, USA as well as at the City University of New York's Hunter College, USA.

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