What has happened to the vigor and hope that South Africans beamed to the world in the aftermath of Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990, his unlikely inauguration as president in 1994, and the astonishing transition of power from the Nationalist Party to the African National Congress? As World Cup visitors could see out their car windows traveling between Cape Town's airport and its beautiful soccer stadium fifteen years later in 2010, persistent poverty has dampened some of that vigor and hope. Life in Langa and Soweto is somewhat better than during formal apartheid – there is improved housing and greater access to water and electricity, for example – but the pace of material progress and fuller employment of the masses has been slow. In 2014, some 25 per cent of the working force is unemployed; in 1994, that rate was about 20 per cent. Has South Africa become another case study for dashed African material dreams experienced across our Mother Continent since 1957? If so, why and what can be done?

Adam Habib seeks to answer these questions by analyzing crucial South African relationships between poverty and wealth, ethics and corruption, ethnic identity and national citizenry, business and government, and foreign and domestic policies. Finding many of these relationships flawed, Habib offers ways to improve the relations between political, business, and global leaders and their linkages to an active citizenry. All the while Habib explains South Africa's slow pace of material progress since 1990 and suggests policies to realize the country's promising future, once longingly expressed in Dennis Brutus' poem, ‘On the Coming Victory’, in Richard Rive's folk song, ‘Where the Rainbow Ends’, and in the heart of one of the world's greatest documents, the Freedom Charter. Habib, himself South African, knows full well that the generations emerging from the enormous sacrifices of those who were imprisoned or gave their lives to end formal apartheid deserve better and he sets himself to the task. Throughout his first six chapters, Habib introduces his readers to theories of political economy within theoretical frameworks of democracy, economics, social change, and conflict resolution as they apply to South Africa.

Especially helpful is Chapter Seven, ‘What is to be Done?’ First, Habib summarizes his previous chapters, which identify the causes of South Africa's predicaments. To put it more historically, Habib explains why the New South Africa envisioned in the Freedom Charter remains distant. Obstacles include the accountability deficit, ineffective government, corruption, the domestic and international nature of capitalism in South Africa, the powerful leverage of the business community, and the inability generally of the government to deliver promises related to its social contract with citizens. Habib suggests ways to transform elite aloofness into empathy with the citizenry and offers the means to overcome conflicts between existing clauses of the constitution. In the respectful spirit of Nelson Mandela's frequent public speaking references to ‘Comrades’, Habib carries out much of his analysis and conclusions while weighing the ideas of Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, Antonio Gramsci, and John Saul. Habib offers an ‘alternative progressive political agenda’ to initiate substantive discussion, which depends, of course, on imaginative, creative, and inclusive leadership.

Habib's concluding chapter discusses ways the experience of South Africa can be applied to other nations. His point is, yes, lessons from South Africa's history can be helpful to other nations, especially those locked into dependency. Habib, the academic activist, gives Karl Marx the last word – it is not enough to explain the world; we must work to change it as well.

Habib's fine book offers many provocative and helpful suggestions, but he assumes his readers are very familiar with South Africa's rich history. Those who are not will need more historical foundation to bring Habib's points into full light, especially when applied to other countries. Starting with Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela and Aran MacKinnon's The Making of South Africa: Culture and Politics would be helpful for the novice. After those historical immersions, readers will find Habib's insightful work more helpful, more hopeful, and more applicable to other nations struggling with their own political economies, including the United States. Perhaps South Africa's collective leadership will heed Adam Habib's clear analysis and creative solutions and move toward new connectivity and innovation. After all, the Chicago refrain from 1968 echoes still – ‘The whole world is watching’.