Globalization and the Southern African economies

Abstract

The present volume has its origin in a conference on globalization and Africa held in Cape Town at the end of 2001. It focuses on the place of Southern Africa in the globalized economy. The different chapters identify the overall economic trends in the African continent and the responses - required and actual - to the impact of an increasingly interdependent world economy. An introductory chapter deals with the phenomenon of globalization in broad terms. Chapter 2 focuses on the marginal role of Africa in the global economy and some of the main reasons for this sad state of affairs. Chapter 3 attempts to answer the question whether globalization is good for Africa and analyzes the relationship between globalization and economic reform, using Zimbabwe as an example. Chapter 4 reports on a survey of popular attitudes towards globalization in a number of African countries. Chapter 5 provides an evaluation of economic integration efforts in Southern Africa. Finally, Chapter 6 uses the case of South Africa to discuss how globalization affects the workplace. The Southern African nations are struggling to find their own ways of participating in global development. The present volume provides an insight into how this process has unfolded in the past and into the problems and challenges of the future.

CONTENTS -- Introduction: Africa in Global Context. Mats Lundahl -- The African Debacle: The Place of Africa in the Global Economy. Mats Lundahl and Natalie Pienaar -- Globalisation and Structural Adjustment in Africa. Arne Bigsten and Dick Durevall -- Support for Economic Reform? Popular Attitudes in Southern Africa. Michael Bratton and Robert Mattes -- Economic Integration Efforts in Southern Africa. Mats Lundahl and Lennart Petersson. -- Connecting and Disconnecting: The Impact of Globalisation on Work in South and Southern Africa. Edward Webster