The state of the state: institutional transformation, capacity and political change in South Africa

Abstract

The state of the state: institutional transformation, capacity and political change in South Africa, by Louis A. Picard, Johannesburg, Wits University Press, 2005, 390 pp., £26.50 (paperback), ISBN 9781868144198 'Colonialism in Africa included a cultural hegemony that fractured pre-colonial institutions.' (p. 15) 'By 1999, the most pressing problem facing the Government of National Unity was its own bloated and corrupt public service. ' (p. 278)