With Professor Stephen Chan. South Africa has the second largest economy in Africa and has experienced a prolonged period of economic growth. However the economy is now stagnating with low growth, unemployment at more than 25 per cent, inequality and poverty at high levels and violence and corruption endemic in South African society and the political system. Stephen Chan is Professor of International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He was an international civil servant involved with several key diplomatic initiatives in Africa, helping to pioneer modern electoral observation, and continues to be seconded to diplomatic assignments today. He has twice been Dean at SOAS and has published 29 books. He won the 2010 International Studies Association prize, Eminent Scholar in Global Development, and broadcasts and lectures internationally. He will consider the record of the ANC which has been in power for more than twenty years and the prospects for overcoming the huge problems that face South Africa now.
6.45pm (doors open 6.30).
