The South African mineral-energy complex and the capital goods sector

Completed

Not Energy Related
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
AREA STUDIES (Middle Eastern and African Studies)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Professor B Fine
Economics
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

Standard

ESRC

01 October 1990

31 October 1992

25 months

£51,784

No relevance to Underpinning Sectors

London

ESRC Energy

Professor B Fine, Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

Objectives not supplied

The South African economy has long been dependent on minerals, especially gold. This has involved close linkages between private and public capital and between mining and other sectors of the economy, giving rise to a core economic bloc which might be termed a mineral- energy complex. A critical review of literature around the notion of the military- industrial complex and that relevant from development economics will be made to formulate an appropriate theory for the mineral-energy complex. This will be used to identify the structure, dynamics and boundaries of the complex and to analyse its historical origins and its contemporary relevance for the crisis and future prospects of the South African economy. Through a survey of the major businesses involved, the strengths in capital goodsmanufacture, in the context of a general weakness, will be identified and explained, with particular attention to those sectors related to mining. This will be used to test the hypothesis that the relationship between state policy and private capital has been crucial to the development of the mineral-energy complex and has been an important factor in the successful capital goods sectors; this willbe supplemented through comparative analysis with other mineral and energy producers in developing economies. During the course of the research, other areas will be explored as they prove to important for analytical or policy purposes, such as the impact of sanctions or the options for the mineral-energy complex in post-apartheid South Africa.

10/11/09