Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News from EconoTimes

Become a contributor

Bookmark Econotimes

Sun, May 05, 2024 04:36 PM All times are UTC

Follow Series

©Econometrics LLC . All Rights Reserved.

Steven Friedman

Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg

Steven Friedman is Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Rhodes University and the University of Johannesburg.

He is a political scientist who has specialized in the study of democracy. He researched and wrote widely on the South African transition to democracy both before and after the elections of 1994 and has, over the past decade, largely written on the relationship between democracy on the one hand, social inequality and economic growth on the other. In particular, he has stressed the role of citizen voice in strengthening democracy and promoting equality.

He is the author of Building Tomorrow Today, a study of the South African trade union movement and the implications of its growth for democracy, and the editor of The Long Journey and The Small Miracle (with Doreen Atkinson), which presented the outcome of two research projects on the South African transition. He is currently studying the role of citizen action in strengthening and sustaining democracy.

US under Trump Series

COVID-19 has blown away the myth about 'First' and 'Third' world competence

May 14, 2020 10:10 am UTC| Economy Politics

One of the planets and Africas deepest prejudices is being demolished by the way countries handle COVID-19. For as long as any of us remember, everyone knew that First World countries in effect, Western Europe and...

Shades of Brazil as anti-corruption drive in South Africa turns nasty

Nov 26, 2018 16:18 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

What better way to derail an anti-corruption campaign than to beat it at its own game? You might damage or derail democracy in the process, but that is the countrys problem, not yours. Anti-corruption campaigns are...

South Africa's ruling ANC can no longer count on union ally to win elections

Sep 30, 2018 22:15 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

South Africas governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), may have to fight next years general election without hundreds of thousands of votes which its trade union ally has delivered in the past. This isnt...

Emerging Market Crisis Series

The markets can stomach a captured Treasury but South Africa's poor will suffer

Apr 18, 2017 05:18 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The formal economy might find it a lot easier to live with a (partly) captured national treasury than many might imagine. This is bad news for people living in poverty who would then lack friends in high places to resist...

Economy

Nigerians throw naira notes around to show love: but it could land you in jail

The legal implication of physically damaging the naira, Nigerias currency, came into focus recently with the prosecution of at least two celebrities by the countrys Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Nigeria has a...

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Politics

Sudan’s civil war is rooted in its historical favouritism of Arab and Islamic identity

The current civil war in Sudan goes beyond a simple power struggle between two generals. It reflects a deep-rooted crisis within the countrys governing structure thats been present since it gained independence from the...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

The politics stopping the UK from opening a youth mobility scheme with Europe

Earlier this week, it seemed possible that young people in the UK might soon be able to travel freely to work and live in Europe again. The European Commission laid out proposals to open mobility to millions of 18- to...

Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’

Most American workers are hired at will: Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship except earned wages, and employees are at liberty to quit at their option. As the rule is generally stated, either party...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Technology

AI Protocol Render (RNDR) Soars 15% As Bitcoin Fights For Balance

As Bitcoin grapples with market volatility, altcoin Render (RNDR) stands out with a remarkable 15% surge, showcasing its resilience amid the crypto markets tumult. This surge comes as Bitcoin struggles to find stability,...

Huawei's Covert U.S. Funding Scheme Raises Eyebrows Amid Export Ban

The revelation of Huaweis discreet sponsorship of U.S. research through a Washington-based foundation has reignited concerns about the efficacy of the export ban. Despite regulatory hurdles, the tech giant managed to fund...

Crypto.com's F1 Sponsorship Expansion Sparks Global Visibility Drive

Crypto.com, one of the top exchanges in the digital currency ecosystem, is set to expand its sporting ad budget. Notably, the trading platform is looking to expand its dominance in its push for global...

Stablecoins Set to Overtake Visa, Ripple CEO Affirms XRP and ETH Not Securities

Stablecoins are poised to challenge Visas dominance in payment volume, marking a significant shift in the crypto landscape. Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse asserts that XRP and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities,...

Justin Sun Dominates Swell L2 with 46% of Deposits in eETH

Justin Sun, founder of Tron, has again surged into the limelight, this time for his colossal cryptocurrency deposits. The crypto tycoon, utilizing the pseudonymous address 0x7a9…3095, recently funneled a staggering...