This book provides an overdue critical re-engagement with the analytical approach exemplified by the work of Harold Wolpe, who was a key theorist within the liberation movement. It probes the following broad questions: how do we understand the trajectory of the post-apartheid period, how did the current situation come about in the transformation, how does the current situation relate to how a post-apartheid society was conceived in anticipation, and what are the implications of what have been failed ambitions for progressives?

The contributions to this volume cohere around the following themes: labour and capital in post-apartheid South Africa, the post-apartheid South African economy, the state and transformation of South African society, and social policy in post-apartheid South Africa. The aim is not to provide a common or coherent theoretical perspective, but rather to probe a core problematic and set of theoretical concerns.

The contributing authors explore not only historical and contemporary specifics, but deploy and reflect on theoretical tools that allow us to make sense of those specifics and to engage with the dynamics of race and class, and the form and functioning of the state, including its articulation with an increasingly financialised form of global capitalism.

The growth in private health care for the middle classes has resulted in deeply segregated and unequal health care, with poor people being relegated to under-resourced and unresponsive public systems, and wealthy minorities receiving world-class treatment at very high prices. - from the Introduction *** This book examines the scope for health care reform in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Both countries are undergoing significant attempts at reforming inequitable, private sector-dominated, health care systems in the context of fragile, negotiated, social settlements. In South Africa, the government is moving towards introducing a national health insurance scheme that holds the historic promise of introducing social solidarity and effective health care for all its citizens. However, key aspects of the proposed scheme remain unresolved and need to be widely debated. In Zimbabwe, mandatory national health insurance has been discussed for decades without any conclusion being reached or a system implemented. This option needs to be revisited as the economy stabilizes and confidence in governance improves. Based on extensive research, the contributors to this volume examine health care reform in historical context, analyze the views of key stakeholders, and reflect on current proposals for better health financing and more people-centered health systems, based on the principles of universality and social solidarity. Universal Health in Southern Africa is essential reading for academics, health professionals, and policy makers concerned with the historical, ideological, and institutional background to the current policy debate on the commercialization of health care and proposed alternatives, such as a national health system.