Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) nations have become a strong engine of South-South Cooperation. The most significant outcome of the emergence of BRICS is the shift they have brought to the balance of power in global affairs. The past decade has steadily accelerated commercial and strategic engagements between BRICS and Africa. The BRICS countries constitute Africa’s largest trading partners and new investors. BRICS has nourished Africa’s economic emergence and elevated the continent’s contemporary global positioning. This book seeks to determine the potential of BRICS-Africa cooperation in promoting African development.

Some of the critical issues in this book include the following: a) What will be the impact of intra-BRICS and BRICS–Africa cooperation and partnerships, mainly through the New Industrial Revolution, financial technologies, infrastructure, economic growth and development in health; b) Determine the relevance of the BRICS New Development Bank in the post-COVID era; c) Examine the governance and accountability mechanisms required to entrench BRICS governance cooperation with the continent, and e) Determine strategies that address gender developmental disparities and inequalities in BRICS and Africa.

This book consists of five sections, preceded by an introduction and later at the end of the chapters, a conclusion. The five mentioned sections respond to the 2020 12th BRICS Summit, ‘Global Stability, Shared Security, and Innovative Growth thematic thrusts.

Are there ways and means of measuring democracy and "good governance"? The con-tributions to this Discussion Paper present attempts to do this by means of surveys on democratic attitudes in Mozambique and Namibia respectively, as well as by exploring the degree of commitment to and violation of human rights in a comparative perspective in Namibia and South Africa. They illustrate attitudes by offering empirical evidence of the preferences and views of local people, as well as by examining the track record of a human rights culture. In doing so, by going beyond a level of theoretical analysis, they offer concrete evidence of attitudes prevalent among both individuals and state agencies in societies of Southern Africa.

Since the transition to democracy in 1994, South Africa has become a well documented nation. A multitude of national and sub-national studies have been conducted, yielding a wealth of information about the characteristics of South African society, and how these have evolved over time. However, less is known about how South Africans feel about their world and themselves. There remains much scope for deepening our understanding of the public's values, chronicling how these have been changing, and determining the extent to which different segments of the population vary in their attitudes and beliefs. South African social attitudes: Reflections on the Age of Hope is the second in the HSRC series that aims to monitor the evolving dynamics of South African social values in relation to broader societal developments. It is based primarily on the findings of the 2004 and 2005 rounds of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), which involved interviewing a nationally representative sample of more than 5000 individuals aged 16 years and older. Like its predecessor, South African Social Attitudes: Changing Times, Diverse Voices, this volume is structured according to three thematic sections. The first section on race, class and politics examines the public's views on issues such as national priorities, racial redress, local government, and includes an in-depth examination of youth attitudes. The second section addresses perceptions about poverty, inequality and service delivery. The final section on societal values focuses on attitudes in relation to religion, the environment, employment, and the fear of crime. South African social attitudes is essential reading for anyone seeking a guide to contemporary social or political issues and debates.