Prisoners of the Past

Prisoners of the Past argues that South Africa’s entrenched racial hierarchies and power relations, or ‘path dependence’, can be overcome only through compromises negotiated between government, economic power holders and social interest groupings.

In Prisoners of the Past Steven Friedman astutely argues that, contrary to what is often claimed, South Africa’s current economic and social situation is not the product of post-1994 governance, and specifically not the result of corrupt politicians betraying democracy’s promise. Building on the work of economic historian Douglass North and political scholar Mahmood Mamdani, Friedman shows that the difficulties besetting South African democracy are in fact legacies of the past. The transition has left intact core features of the apartheid economy and restored the culture and values of the period of British colonisation. This ‘path dependence’ has ensured the survival of racial hierarchies and of power relations which exclude and dominate millions of citizens.