Summary

This seventh edition in the internationally acclaimed State of the Nation series from HSRC Press is a significant contribution to the debates around the impact of 20 years of freedom and democracy on South Africa. Resonating with a wealth of research in a variety of disciplines and cross-disciplinary fields, leading scholars analyze and reflect on an emerging balance sheet that urges all South Africans towards a fair, coherent, and multipronged approach to development in which all stakeholders need to participate. The two decades of freedom and democracy are viewed through the lenses of politics, economics, society, health, environment, and the global context. Each of these sections offers illuminating and significant analyses of topics of national importance. Across the world, scholars, academics, policymakers, and general readers look to the annual editions of State of the Nation as influential frames of reference for South African current affairs and the pathways forward.