Adam Habib

Adam Habib

"Studying at a mix of South African and American Universities, Adam Habib graduated as a political scientist having received his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Kwazulu Natal, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Witwatersrand, and his MPhil and PhD from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has held academic appointments over the last decade at the Universities of Durban-Westville and Kwazulu-Natal and the Human Science Reseach Council. Prior to being appointed Executive Director of the Democracy and Governance Programme of the Human Science Research Council in 2004, he served as the founding director of the Centre for Civil Society and a research professor in the School of Development Studies at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, a position he still continues to retain in a part-time capacity.

"Adam Habib has served as co-editor of both the social science academic journal Transformation and the official disciplinary journal of the South African Association of Political Science, Politkon. He also sits on the editorial boards of Voluntas and the South African Labour Bulletin. He has served as an external examiner and examined Masters and Doctoral dissertations for a number of South African Universities including Durban-Westville, Kwazulu-Natal, Witwatersrand, Cape Town, and Rhodes. He has also served on a number of boards and councils including those of the University of Durban-Westville, the Intenational Society for Third Sector Research, Sangonet, the Centre for Public Participation, and the Alternative Information Development Centre.

"Adam Habib has published numerous scholarly books, book chapters and journal articles over the last decade. Amongst his most recent publications are his co-editing with John Daniel and Roger Southall of the State of the Nation 2003-2004, 2003, Pretoria, HSRC Publishers, and “Conversation with a Nation: Race and Redress in Post-Apartheid South Africa”, in Edgar Pieterse and Frank Meintjies (eds) Voices of the Transition: The Politics, Poetics and Practices of Social Change in South Africa, 2004, Cape Town: Heinneman Publishers (Pty) Ltd, ), “The Politics of Economic Policy-Making: Substantive Uncertainty, Political Leverage, and Human Development”, Transformation, 2004, no. 56, “The Politics of Decentralisation and Donor Funding in South Africa’s Rural Water Sector”, in Journal of Southern African Studies, 2003, vol. 29, no. 4 (with Mary Galvin)., “Civil Society, Governance and Development in an Era of Globalisation, in Omano Edigheji and Guy Mhone (eds) Governance in the New South Africa, 2003, Cape Town: UCT Press (with Hermien Kotze), “Party Disintegrations and Re-alignments in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Constitutional Implications and the Prospects for Non-Racialism”, in Review of African Political Economy, 2002, vol. 29, no. 92 (with Lubna Nadvi), “Institutional Crisis at the University of Transkei”, in Politikon, 2001, vol. 28, no. 2, “Political Alliances and Parliamentary Opposition in South Africa”, in Democratization, Summer 2001, vol. 8, no. 2 (with Rupert Taylor), “Transforming South Africa’s University System: The Case for Strategic Mergers,” in Perspectives in Education, 2000, vol. 18, no. 3 (with Angina Parekh), “Economic Policy and Power Relations in South Africa’s Transition to Democracy,” in World Development, 2000, vol. 28, no. 2 (with Vishnu Padayachee), “Afrique du Sud Pouvoir, Politique Et Strategie Economique Dans La Transition Democratique,” in Revue Tiers Monde, 1999, no. 159 (with Vishnu Padayachee), “South Africa: Anti-Apartheid NGO’s in Transition,” in Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1999, vol. 10, no. 1 (with Rupert Taylor). He has also authored various reports and working papers, and has presented papers and delivered lectures to international conferences in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. He is a well-known public figure in South Africa whose opinions are often sought by both the print and broadcasting media. In the last few years, Adam Habib has been included in the Financial Mail’s top 300 most influential black people in South Africa." (2003)


 * Director, South African Labour Bulletin
 * Honorary Professor, Centre for Civil Society
 * Editorial Advisory Board, Amandla
 * Editorial Board, Voluntas
 * Corresponding Editor, Transformation

Denied Entry to US (2006)
"The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) notes with concern that Professor Adam Habib, Executive Director of the HSRC’s Democracy & Governance research programme and a respected scholar and an outspoken political commentator, has had his visa revoked by the US government on his arrival in New York on Saturday 21 October 2006, and was subsequently deported back to South Africa. To date no reasons have been given for these actions.

"Prof. Habib was part of a HSRC delegation to the USA, led by the CEO Dr Olive Shisana, which will be meeting a number of institutions, including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Bank, Columbia University, and a number of donor agencies, including the Carnegie and Gates Foundations during their visit."