The Kimberley Process risks becoming irrelevant to cogent concerns

Photo © Judy van der Velden

By prioritising consensus among its state parties and industry stakeholders in defiance of calls by civil society organisations (CSOs) for governance-enhancing reform, the Kimberley Process Diamond Certification Scheme (KPCS or KP) risks sleep-walking into irrelevance.

Russia’s Africa Policy

Russia is demonstrating robust commitment to reasserting its role in Africa. Its re-emergence as a significant African actor has been a recent phenomenon, and one that has received little scholarly attention to date.

Russia–South Africa Relations: Beyond Revival

The policy brief analyses the main features of Russia–South Africa relations following a revival of bilateral interests in the context of the, so-called, new scramble for Africa and recent 5th BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, on 26–27 March 2013.

Russia and Angola: The Rebirth of a Strategic Partnership?

Africa and Russia in general, and Angola and Russia in particular, have a long-standing friendship dating back to the days when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was assisting African national liberation movements in gaining independence.

South Africa’s nuclear programme: A view from 2023

Photo © Michael Kappel

At an energy stakeholder meeting in parliament held on 19 September 2013, all four presentations by the nuclear lobby – including the Department of Energy (DOE) – typified what behavioural economist Daniel Kahneman calls a ‘planning fallacy’. This essentially describes plans and forecasts that ‘are unrealistically close to best-case scenarios [and] could be improved by consulting statistics of similar cases’.