Global South Powers in Transition : A Comparative Analysis of Mexico and South Africa

Specialist researchers from Mexico and South Africa compare the wide-ranging transitions that these two influential countries from the Global South are undergoing in such areas as demographic diversity, democratization, economic development, labour dynamics, social inequality, crime and violence, food security, mining, and international relations.

Employing a novel collaborative transnational methodology, this ground-breaking book presents the first comprehensive and systematic comparison of Mexico and South Africa. Although geographically, historically and diplomatically far apart, Mexico and South Africa are ambitious and influential powers in the Global South and also experience wide-ranging domestic transitions. A binational team of 26 researchers from the two countries, all specialists in their respective disciplines, probe the transitions that Mexico and South Africa are undergoing in areas such as socio-cultural diversity, domestic politics, economic development, labour dynamics, social and territorial inequality, food security, crime and violence, and foreign relations. The detailed country studies allow the authors to identify striking similarities but also profound differences between the two societies. In so doing, the book helps to explain Mexico and South Africa to each other but also to the world at large.