State of the Nation - South Africa 2004-2005

In early November 2004, the Human Sciences Research Council Press annual State of the Nation publication, now in its second year, was published. State of the Nation: South Africa 2004-2005 asks, quite simply, if government is performing. Are politicians delivering? Are programmes, funded by tax-payers' money, working? Are the poor, living on electoral promises, surviving? Is the economy alive, is black empowerment kicking, are school kids learning? It asks such questions, explores the evidence, and comes to conclusions. It makes critical, as much as constructive, suggestions. The current volume is a project of the Democracy and Governance research programme of the HSRC, but also draws on work undertaken elsewhere in the organisation as well the research of analysts and social scientists from universities and civil society. Chapters in the 2004-2005 edition are broad-ranging, covering many of the most pertinent issues facing South Africa today.