Power, Politics and Society in South Africa

4 Credits.

This course explores the forces that have shaped South Africa’s political life, economy and society—from the liberation struggle and the democratic transition to the challenges of governance, and growth in the present day. South Africa is Africa’s most advanced economy and one of its most complex societies: a country that was the last on the continent to win freedom and that continues to grapple with the deep legacies of apartheid and colonial rule. More than three decades after the end of white minority government, it remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, shaped by profound social, economic and geographic divides. That history has also shaped a rich cultural heritage and fashioned a society that holds fast to its hard-won democratic gains. Isolated at the bottom end of Africa, South Africa is the leading trading partner in Africa of China, the US, India and the EU, even as it struggles to find its place in the geopolitical tumult of 2026. The course also places South Africa within its regional context, examining the histories and contemporary politics of its neighbors—Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and Angola—and how the destinies of Southern Africa’s nations remain closely intertwined.