Statements on governance and sustainability : the territorial logic of apartheid and the (South) African challenge

Maano Ramutsindela (1)

1 University of Cape Town

Challenges of governance facing a post-apartheid South Africa can more appropriately be understood in the contexts of state building and governance in Africa and other parts of the South. A gamut of literature on state formation in Africa has focused on the impact of colonial rule and the appropriation of that rule by postliberation African leaders, and the struggle for control over resources. There are, though, views that present the challenge from a predominantly geographical perspective. Such views are readily discernible from Herbst's (2000) argument that "the fundamental problem facing the state-builders in Africa - be they pre-colonial kings, colonial governors, or presidents in the independent era - has been to project authority over inhospitable territories that contain relatively low densities of people ... relatively low population densities in Africa have automatically meant that it always has been more expensive for states to exert control over a given number of people compared to Europe and other densely settled areas". From this position, a gap approach is employed to illustrate how Africa is different from Europe in terms of conditions for successful state building and governance.

Mots clés: governance; sustainability; South Africa

Domaines: Géographie

Maano Ramutsindela. Statements on governance and sustainability : the territorial logic of apartheid and the (South) African challenge. Rencontres scientifiques franco-Sud-Africaines de l'innovation territoriale, Jan 2002, Grenoble - Avignon, France. pp.5. ⟨halshs-00749722⟩