Studies in Critical Social Sciences / Radical Geography Geohistory, Capitalist Development, and South Africa

In South Africa, apartheid ended over thirty years ago. The country now verges on being a failed-state. People think of South African history in terms of race and events internal to the country itself. Both are highly misleading assumptions. In South Africa, it is thirty years since apartheid was overthrown. The country now teeters on being a ‘failed state.’ But South African history cannot be explained in isolation from developments in the rest of the world. Nor can it be understood in terms of change from a regime where race seemed all-determining, to one where race is supposed to be a matter of indifference. Rather, this book argues that the key to understanding South Africa lies in the logics of capitalist development. These explain why capitalist domination has taken racial forms, and why global conditions have been so important.