Regional and Local Economic Development in South Africa

This book sets out to examine the limited effects of previous development strategies in South Africa before proceeding to a detailed examination of the new, innovative, locally-based development initiatives which are being initiatied by local governments, community and non-governmental organizations in the country. The broad context is provided by a detailed literature survey of international development theory and practice, particularly in terms of locally-based initiatives and evolving policy in South Africa. In line with current methodological thinking, an appropriate social assessment methodology was developed for the evaluation of a broad range of community-based projects. Six case studies, all in the Eastern Cape province, are evaluated and investigated. Key policy related conclusions relevent to developing countries and South Africa are derived from the study. The book is the first major study of the emerging phenomenon of local economic development in South Africa and one of the first studies of this topic outside the developed world.
It breaks new ground in that it provides insights into the potential and constraints which face local economic development in the context of the developing world. Other key contributions include the development of a typology of local economic development strategies, the advance of a research schedule designed to investigate and assess local economic development initiatives and the postulation of appropriate development guidelines and theoretical constructs.