Disciplining State Capture Book Project (Faculty of Commerce, Law & Management)
This project webpage will provide information and links regarding this book project.
In order to take advantage of the opportunity to position itself as a thought leader on the capture, capacity and democratic renewal of the South African state, the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, through its Research Committee, commissioned Prof Jonathan Klaaren (jonathan.klaaren@wits.ac.za) and Prof Themba Maseko (themba.maseko@wits.ac.za) to take forward an edited book as co-editors. Please feel free to contact both or either of us for further information on this project.
The intended timeline for this project is 12-24 months. A call for proposals was issued on 31 January 2023 and is available here. The timeline will depend upon a sequence of stages (some of which may well be simultaneous): first, Faculty is in the process of identifying and agreeing with a publisher or publishers regarding the series of books; second, this project will be agreed to within the parameters of that series; third, the chapters will undergo peer review and, as necessary, revision; and fourth, our volume will go through copy-editing and publication. Our expected and hoped-for publication date is not before July 2024 but not after December 2024.
Consistent with the tentative title 'Disciplining State Capture', each chapter will identify the particular disciplinary perspective it shall employ. The project is multidisciplinary taken as a whole. The editors' introduction (rough draft is available to the project authors as of mid-November 2023) lays out in more detail the positioning and the coherence of the project.
We are currently working with 17 accepted abstracts, each proposing a chapter. Several chapters are proposed to be co-authored. Nearly all of the authors are coming from the Schools of Economics and Finance, Governance, and Law at the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at Wits. Chapters are expected to be between 6000 and 8000 words.
Our authors with at least indicative drafts submitted as of November 2023 (10) include: Firoz Cachalia, Giampaolo Garzarelli & Lyndal Keeton, Christine Hobden, Shadi Maganoe, Sibulele Nkunzi & Dhyan Saravanja, Marthinus van Staden, Sheena Swemmer, Bruno Tinel, and Stuart Woolman.
Our full list of authors includes: Caryn Abrahams, Alexander Beyleveld & Firoz Cachalia, Kenneth Creamer, Judith Katzew & Tshepo Mongalo, Caitlin Mapitsa & Candice Morkel, Lumkile Mondi, Alex van den Heever, and Robert van Niekerk.
This page will be updated (fairly) regularly with the way forward.
The current timeline consists of:
10 March 2023: deadline for written responses (via Google forms as per the call for proposals)
3 April 2023 (3 pm): online briefing session for authors of accepted proposals
14 April (2-4 pm): online briefing and discussion session for authors re the existing and forthcoming literature on state capture in South Africa. This will take the form of a seminar with Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale, regarding the forthcoming book from Wits University Press: Buthelezi, Mbongiseni, and Peter Vale, eds. State Capture in South Africa, 2023.
23 May 2023: in-person and hybrid authors' workshop, WSG
15 November 2023: rough draft of editors' introduction due for circulation to project authors (available by contact to Jonathan Klaaren)
30 August 2023: indicative draft of chapters due -- purpose is not peer review but for initial view/engagement by editors -- draft should be rough
Early 2024: second in-person and hybrid authors' workshop, WSG