The state’s capacity to deliver and drive a developmental agenda is fundamental to the success of any nation. This applies to crucial areas such as the provision of energy, water-resource management, foreign policy, security, the courts, the economy and social equity, the role of traditional authorities, and gender equality. For South Africa, among the key issues are the extent to which the country has overcome the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, the changes needed to realise the ambition of a ‘developmental state’, and the role of civil society in holding state institutions accountable.

This edited volume examines the challenges and dilemmas of state institutions operating in a time of global geopolitical uncertainty, widening wealth inequality, post-Covid-19 impacts and unprecedented social, economic, environmental and technological upheaval. The book assesses the South African state’s performance in weathering these challenges, while at the same time examining its evolution since 1994.

A three-pronged lens – capacity, capability and ethics – provides the framework for diagnosing the state’s achievements and failures and suggests ways out of the quagmire of state dysfunction and underperformance, as well as measures to strengthen areas where there are good practices and outcomes. The book’s message is that a sense of history is required to understand current realities. Apartheid is deeply implicated in state failure, but, as some of the chapters in this book show, so too is ineffective and unethical leadership, which has been much in evidence during various phases of the democratic dispensation. This book makes a powerful case for these missteps to be acknowledged and corrected if the state is to be revitalised.