Democracy and Development in South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa
Dates: May 19 - June 27, 2008
Academic Director: David Hirschmann
Program Director: Dylan Craig
Core Seminar: 3 credits
Internship (optional): 3 credits
Independent Study (optional): 3 credits

Immerse yourself in the politics and culture of one of the most dynamic and influential countries in Africa. On this program, you will work with leading scholars and organizations as you develop an understanding of how South Africa has developed into the modern state it is today.

The six-week program will begin with a two-week seminar hosted at the Democracy in Africa Research Unit, or DARU, at the University of Cape Town. The seminar will invite prominent South African academics, politicians, government officials, and non-governmental activists to speak with students about critical issues facing the country and the region. Among the topics covered will be democratization and political reform, decentralization and local governance, public health issues, ethnicity and national identity, and poverty and unemployment, among others.

Following the seminar, students will have the opportunity to engage in internships with organizations working on issues of governance, business development, social justice, community outreach, among others. These internship positions will endow students with immediate practical knowledge about the developmental problems that South Africa faces. Alternatively, students who wish to purse an independent study following the seminar will need to prepare a convincing proposal as part of the application and admission processes, and students who demonstrate an exceptional research agenda will be considered for such an opportunity.

Program site visits and field trips will include but not be limited to Parliament; Robben Island, the notorious island prison off the Western Cape; a hike up Table Mountain; Cape Peninsula; and a township, a living area of Cape Town created for non-whites during Apartheid.

One student from the 2007 program wrote, “The internship turned out to be very enjoyable and allowed me to learn a great deal about South African society.” Another student said, “The site visits were very informative and fun!”

Prof. David Hirschmann is the Director of the International Development Program in SIS at AU. He is a South African who has worked at AU for 21 years. Born in Polokwane in the Limpopo Province, Prof. Hirschmann studied the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg where he received a B.A., LL.B., M.A and, Ph.D. He lived and worked in Lesotho (where he researched Development Planning) and Malawi (were he researched Women in Agriculture) before coming to the US. He has undertaken numerous consulting assignments in many countries in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. He has written approximately 55 publications, mostly in scholarly journals, but some in more applied journals. Prof. Hirschmann was in the Eastern Cape, South Africa in 2007 researching municipal services, housing, and finance.

Dylan Craig is an advanced PhD student at the School of International Service and a native of Cape Town. He earned his MA in Historical Studies from the University of Cape Town. He previously taught African and Cold War history at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. His research interests include African security, state-building, civil-military relations, and the global geopolitics of force. He has lived in and studied in both South Africa and Namibia.

Find out more about South Africa and apply to the program by downloading the program guide [pdf 402kb].

Opportunities for Funding
Students who plan to spend at least six weeks on this program (through at least one course plus internship) may be eligible for outside funding through the Christianson Grant. The application for the grant is due March 15, 2008.