“Rebels And Rage is a critically important contribution to public discussion about #FeesMustFall”–Eusebius McKaiser

Adam Habib, the most prominent and outspoken university official through the recent student protests, takes a characteristically frank view of the past three years on South Africa’s campuses in this new book. Habib charts the progress of the student protests that erupted on Wits University campus in late 2015 and raged for the better part of three years, drawing on his own intimate involvement and negotiation with the students, and also records university management and government responses to the events. He critically examines the student movement and individual student leaders who emerged under the banners #feesmustfall and #Rhodesmustfall, and debates how to achieve truly progressive social change in South Africa, on our campuses and off.

This book is both an attempt at a historical account and a thoughtful reflection on the issues the protests kicked up, from the perspective not only of a high-ranking member of university management, but also Habib as political scientist with a background as an activist during the struggle against apartheid. Habib moves between reflecting on the events of the last three years on university campuses, and reimagining the future of South African higher education.

"Adam Habib is the right person to have undertaken the task that has issued in this book, which he describes as 'a culmination of at least two decades of debates, reflections and thoughts about resistance in South Africa, its political and socio-economic evolution, and the conundrums and dilemmas relating to the making of this society.' (p. ix) He has managed 'to bridge academic and public discourse' (p. x) while speaking truth to power...Habib's book offers a clear narrative, accessible academic analysis and a fair report on the state of the nation." -African Studies Quarterly South Africa's Suspended Revolution tells the story of South Africa's democratic transition and the prospects for the country to develop a truly inclusive political system. Beginning with an account of the transition in the leadership of the African National Congress from Thabo Mbeki to Jacob Zuma, the book then broadens its lens to examine the relationship of South Africa's political elite to its citizens. It also examines the evolution of economic and social policies through the democratic transition, as well as the development of a postapartheid business community and a foreign policy designed to re-engage South Africa with the world community. Written by one of South Africa's leading scholars and political commentators, the book combines historical and contemporary analysis with strategies for an alternative political agenda. Adam Habib connects the lessons of the South African experience with theories of democratic transition, social change, and conflict resolution. Political leaders, scholars, students, and activists will all find material here to deepen their understanding of the challenges and opportunities of contemporary South Africa.

South Africa’s Suspended Revolution engages with the country’s transition into democracy and its prospects for inclusive development. It is an antidote to many descriptive and voluntarist explanations in which leaders and other actors are treated as unfettered agents whose choices and behaviour are merely the result of their own abilities or follies. In contrast, Adam Habib explains the story of how South Africa arrived at this point by locating these actors in context. He tries to understand the institutional constraints within which they operated, why they made the choices they did, and what the consequences are. The book also explores what other policy options and behavioural choices may have been available, and why these were forsaken for the ones that were eventually adopted.

In essence, the book is about how South Africa got to its present state of affairs, what the country’s current challenges are, and how these could be transcended. It is deeply historical in the sense of understanding what possibilities may have existed in one moment, but not another. The narrative recognises that societies evolve and as a result the potential for political and socioeconomic advances themselves change.

This then is a story of the dynamic interplay between actors and context, how the latter can constrain and condition the former, but also how individuals and institutions can, with imagination, act against the grain of their location and historical moment, thereby transforming the possibilities and, through them, society itself.

Adam Habib is Vice-chancellor and Principal of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He has held academic appointments at the University of Durban-Westville, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (where he was founding director of the Centre for Civil Society), the University of Johannesburg and the Human Sciences Research Council. Habib is widely recognised as one of the more authoritative commentators on South Africa’s democracy and its prospects for inclusive development.

The socio-economic transformation of South Africa, is necessary for the consolidation of its democracy. This can only be fully realised when poor people's voices are heard in the corridors of power. Voices of protest documents the first post-apartheid initiatives of poor people to mobilise and organise themselves. It analyses social struggles and movements in a variety of arenas. The title illuminates their demands, leadership and membership, organisational structure, and most importantly, their politics. It also assesses the collective effect of South Africa's social movements on the country's democracy and its socio-economic system. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding contemporary South Africa and its future.

Hierdie boek is verpligte leesstof vir alle Suid-Afrikaners wat op soek is na oplossings vir die probleme wat ons demokrasie in die gesig staar. Adam Habib bied ’n oorspronklike analise van die politieke en ekonomiese oorgang in die postapartheidera deur die institusionele beperkinge en die magsbalanse wat ’n rol speel in die Suid-Afrikaanse politieke arena, bloot te lê.

Habib pak dilemmas aan soos die dienslewerings- en verantwoordbaarheidskrisis, die skuiwe in ekonomiese beleid, die rol van die burgerlike samelewing en die lewensvatbaarheid van ’n sosiale verdrag, en ondersoek so die faktore wat politieke en beleidsuitkomste beïnvloed. Dit sluit die mag en hefboomkrag van politieke partye, die sakesektor, buitelandse beleggers, vakunies, organisasies in die burgerlike samelewing asook globale mag en instellings in. Hy glo dat individue en instellings met ’n bietjie verbeelding, kan optree téén die grein van ’n gegewe historiese oomblik en die gemeenskap in sy geheel verander.

South Africa’s Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects het in 2013 verskyn. Rewolusie op Ys: Suid-Afrika se Vooruitsigte is ’n verkorte en vertaalde weergawe van die oorspronklike Engelse uitgawe en dien as ’n ideale inleiding vir enigeen wat geïnteresseerd is in Suid-Afrika se vooruitsigte.

"Adam Habib is the right person to have undertaken the task that has issued in this book, which he describes as 'a culmination of at least two decades of debates, reflections and thoughts about resistance in South Africa, its political and socio-economic evolution, and the conundrums and dilemmas relating to the making of this society.' (p. ix) He has managed 'to bridge academic and public discourse' (p. x) while speaking truth to power...Habib's book offers a clear narrative, accessible academic analysis and a fair report on the state of the nation." -African Studies Quarterly South Africa's Suspended Revolution tells the story of South Africa's democratic transition and the prospects for the country to develop a truly inclusive political system. Beginning with an account of the transition in the leadership of the African National Congress from Thabo Mbeki to Jacob Zuma, the book then broadens its lens to examine the relationship of South Africa's political elite to its citizens. It also examines the evolution of economic and social policies through the democratic transition, as well as the development of a postapartheid business community and a foreign policy designed to re-engage South Africa with the world community. Written by one of South Africa's leading scholars and political commentators, the book combines historical and contemporary analysis with strategies for an alternative political agenda. Adam Habib connects the lessons of the South African experience with theories of democratic transition, social change, and conflict resolution. Political leaders, scholars, students, and activists will all find material here to deepen their understanding of the challenges and opportunities of contemporary South Africa.

This is a must-read for all South African citizens looking for solutions to the problems facing our democracy. Adam Habib offers an original analysis of political and economic transition in the post-apartheid era by exposing the institutional constraints and the balance of forces at play in South Africa's political arena. Grappling with dilemmas such as the crisis of service delivery and accountability, the shifts in economic policy, the role of civil society and the viability of a social pact, Habib explores factors that influence political and policy outcomes. These include the power and leverage of political parties, the business sector, foreign investors, trade unions, civil society organisations as well as global power and institutions. He believes that individuals and institutions can, with imagination, act against the grain of a given historical moment and transform society as a whole. South Africa's Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects was published in 2013. Rewolusie Op Ys: Suid-Afrika se Vooruitsigte is an abridged and translated version of the original English edition, and serves as an ideal introduction for anyone interested in South Africa's future prospects.