From Defence to Development: Redirecting Military Resources in South Africa

When South Africa finally found peace in the early 1990s, the government was supposed to use the money once spent on the military to better meet basic human needs. But has it happened?An uneven and fragile process at best, this re-allocation of funds has been faltering all over the world as war-torn societies in the Middle East, Latin America, and other parts of Africa struggle to build more democratic societies in the wake of the cold war. In South Africa, the results have been contradictory, with an increased emphasis on arms export and a rise in banditry and criminal gangs. This book argues that emerging countries such as South Africa must go beyond a narrow conception of the process and focus instead on sustainable development and environmental restoration.