‘Velddrift’: the making of a South African company town

Urban History ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance van Sittert
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
The State ◽  
Company Town ◽  
Rural Urbanization ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Shadow Cast

Recent reviews of South African urban history have highlighted its neglect of rural urbanization and the role of the state and capital in urban development. Natural resource frontiers offer a uniquely unobstructed view of rural urbanization under the aegis of capital and the state. The process has been well documented for South Africa's mineral revolution, but other resource frontiers have been completely ignored. The latter developed in the long shadow cast by mining and the urban metropoles, with their centripetal pull on labour and the state, making the company town an archetypal urban form on the rural periphery.

Transmission belt for transnational capital or facilitator for development? Problematising the role of the state in the Maputo Development Corridor

2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Söderbaum ◽  
Ian Taylor
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Spatial Development ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
The State ◽  
Investment Promotion ◽  
Jobless Growth ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Inclusive Governance

This article problematises the role of the state in what is claimed to be the ‘flagship’ of the South African Spatial Development Initiative (SDI) programme, the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC). The purpose is to assess to what extent the state is best understood as a ‘transmission belt’ for transnational capital or as a ‘facilitator’ for development. The study reveals several flaws in the MDC which reinforce the role of the state as a transmission belt for transnational capital, rather than as a facilitator for development. For instance, the neo-liberal market fundamentalism and big-bang approach inherent in the MDC spells ‘jobless growth’. Similarly, the notion that ‘good governance is less government’, implies that the state is to a large extent reduced to an ‘investment promotion agency’. Having said this, the MDC does contain several novel and positive features, and its problematic aspects can be overcome through some strategic changes in the MDC approach. These may be summarised as a heavier focus on ‘development’, a more pro-active state, and more comprehensive and inclusive governance structures.

South Africa's Brittle Peace: The Problem of Post-Settlement Violence. By Pierre du Toit. New York: Palgrave, 2001. 222p. $65.00. Then I Was Black: South African Political Identities in Transition. By Courtney Jung. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. 320p. $35.00.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 656-657
Author(s):  
Allison Drew
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Violence

These two books deal with the legacy of apartheid for South Africa's democracy, approaching the problems posed by this legacy from differing perspectives about the role of the state. Pierre du Toit, in a thoughtful and well-researched book, addresses the problem of violence in post-apartheid South Africa. Peace in a society with a history of violence needs to be nurtured, he contends, and the state must play a central role.

State Protection of Energy Consumers

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Hanri Mostert ◽  
Tjakie Naude
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Market Models ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The One ◽  
State Protection

This chapter scrutinizes the role of the state in ensuring electricity supply and protecting end-consumers along a spectrum of energy market models. On the one end, there are markets dominated by virtual state monopolies, such as the South African example, where supply and consumer protection take on a different shape, compared to those on the other end of the spectrum, where distribution of energy to end-consumers is privatized. The European Union (EU) exemplifies the latter. Analyses of both the Australian and Nigerian models of energy supply and end-consumer protection are included to demonstrate variations within privatized markets, and comment on the role of the state in implementing privatization. Issues of procedural and participatory justice are considered. Social justice issues are raised, furthermore, in that the type of consumer protection in a system is influenced by the degree of affluence of the community and the resilience of the system of governance.

scholarly journals State Control Versus Hybrid Land Markets: Planning and Urban Development in Transitional Hanoi, Vietnam

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoang Nguyen ◽  
Jin Duan ◽  
Jin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Land Development ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The State ◽  
Land Markets ◽  
State Control ◽  
Role Of The State

During the post-reform period since 1986, land-use systems in Vietnam have been reformed in terms of the regulation of land markets and the built environment. This study analyzes the changing role of urban planning and the policy of state intervention in land markets to manage spatial changes in Vietnamese cities. Theoretical and empirical approaches are used to analyze urban development and planning practices in Hanoi. The study further describes the constraints of planning systems in hybrid land markets that include both formal and informal land development. We argue that in Vietnam, where the role of the state in market construction has not been fully developed and land market institutions are incomplete, urban planning is used as a passive tool of state control and is no longer relevant to the process of spatial development, which is driven by the speculative activities of interest actors. This situation challenges state regulations for the effective management of spatial resources. The empirical results suggest the utility of further reforms to the land-use system and planning institutions in Vietnam, and of strengthening the capacity of the state in land administration.

Economic and Legal Support for Commercialization of Intellectual Property in Russia

2003 ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
I. Dezhina ◽  
I. Leonov
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
The State ◽  
Commercial Application ◽  
The West ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Legal Context

The article is devoted to the analysis of the changes in economic and legal context for commercial application of intellectual property created under federal budgetary financing. Special attention is given to the role of the state and to comparison of key elements of mechanisms for commercial application of intellectual property that are currently under implementation in Russia and in the West. A number of practical suggestions are presented aimed at improving government stimuli to commercialization of intellectual property created at budgetary expense.

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