This concluding essay frames the actual and potential role of civil society actors in terms of institutional theory, complemented by Gramscian thought. Global finance is conceived as an institutionalized field in need ...

South Africa and the European Union (EU) have a longstanding relationship. Their interaction has evolved through various phases, characterised simultaneously by ambitious partnerships coupled with a degree of wariness. ...

In a 2014 issue of Nature, members of our research group called for abandoning the gross domestic product as the key indicator in economic policymaking. In this new article, we argue that a new post–gross domestic product ...

Most visibly since 2002, with the establishment of the African Union (AU), there have been indications that Africa may be following in Europe’s footsteps in the process of regional integration. But is it really so? This ...

Despite acknowledging the need for nurturing democracy from within, democracy assistance programmes have often been carried out in a top-down fashion. By starting from the limits of democracy assistance, this article ...

In contemporary politics, the power and status of a country are intimately connected with its economic wealth. In particular, GDP has become the benchmark by which the global pecking order is defined. Initially designed ...

The European Union (EU) and South Africa have a longstanding relationship, which includes political and economic partnerships, thus providing a critical test case for norms diffusion. In the past few years, however, this ...

The concept of ‘wellbeing economy’ (WE), that is, an economy that pursues human and ecological wellbeing instead of material growth, is gaining support amongst policymakers, business, and civil society. Over the past couple ...

The world‟s most powerful number, the gross domestic product (GDP), was invented exactly 80 years ago.1 It was indeed in 1934 that a young economist by the name of Simon Kuznets (who would later on receive a Nobel Prize ...