Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation Open Day 2021

„Politics and trust“

The work of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation: focusing on participation, representation, security, and innovation.

"Adenauer-Conference" with Armin Laschet

Germany’s Role in International Security Affairs

With a keynote speech on foreign and security policy by Minister-President Armin Laschet, this year's Adenauer Conference opens the discussion on key security issues and international challenges. Besides the priorities for German foreign and security policy, the focus of the debate this year is also on Afghanistan and transatlantic relations.

For My Country:

Why I blew the whistle on Zuma and the Guptas

SA's Corona Parliament: Virtually working?

Join Rebecca Sibanda as she launches and discusses the findings of her new paper.

At this event Rebecca Sibanda of the Parliamentary Monitoring Group will launch and discuss the findings of her new paper Implications of a Virtual Parliament on its Constitutional Mandate. In the paper, she reviews the performance of South Africa's Parliament during the Covid-19 epidemic. Enriching and challenging her conclusions will be Marianne Merten of the Daily Maverick. The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung thanks the Parliamentary Monitoring Group for its collaboration in this research.

Book Launch-The Global South and Comparative Constitutional Law

Philipp Dann, Michael Riegner and Maxim Bönnemann (Editors)

This volume makes a timely intervention into a field marked by a shift from unipolar to multipolar order and a pluralization of constitutional law. It addresses the theoretical and epistemic foundations of Southern constitutionalism and discusses its distinctive themes, such as transformative constitutionalism, inequality, access to justice, and authoritarian legality.

Wrecking Ball

Why Permanent Technological Unemployment, a Predictable Pandemic and Other Wicked Problems Will End South Africa’s Experiment in Inclusive Democracy

Wrecking Ball explores, in novel theoretical manner, a decalogue of wicked problems that could easily end contemporary civilization. Written in the vernacular of political economy, it demonstrates that without an inclusive centralized system of global political and economic institutions, the collective action required to solve these wicked problems falls beyond the remit of the world’s 200 still predominantly extractive and elitist polities. To prove its manifold theses, Wrecking Ball grounds its analysis in an extended study of contemporary South Africa and shows that this country’s elitist and extractive political and economic institutions not only make resolution of ongoing domestic crises unattainable, but make meaningful responses to wicked problems impossible.

‘What are the obligations of states and corporations to ensure access to a COVID-19 vaccine?

Vaccine access is a matter of life and death for many. For others it is a matter of their livelihoods.

A number of vaccines for COVID-19 have been developed in record time and the hope is that this will bring an end to the death, suffering, and disruption to ordinary life caused by the pandemic. Yet, currently, only a small number of countries from the Global North are being able to vaccinate at a rapid rate with access to COVID-19 vaccines having been conditioned by the ability to make large investments in the developments of the vaccine. The vaccines are being manufactured by large private companies, based almost exclusively in the Global North, who have become household names. Yet, their development involved not only private funding but also large amounts of public money and research. Moreover, some of the vaccines were tested on people living in countries in the Global South, including in South Africa. The patenting of the vaccines not only has allowed for the ability of companies to charge high prices but also restrictions on who may supply the vaccines which is partly responsible for current shortages.

Human Rights Law and Children's Right to Education

Can Human Rights Law Provide Guidance on Realising a Child's Right to Education in the Face of a Pandemic?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, children’s access to education in the African context was already unequal. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation with lockdowns, widespread school closures, the use of online learning in resource-poor contexts and limited tuition at schools when, and if, they resumed in-person teaching. Apart from these educational impacts, COVID-19 has also affected other rights of children: for instance, there have been increases in domestic violence, as well as an inability to access school meals that provided much-needed nutrition.

CANRAD/KAS-Youth and Democracy Series

Impact of Covid-19 on youth: Opportunities and Challenges

COVID-19 has a detrimental effect on the youths and this may prove to be one of its damaging legacies. In fact, the coronavirus crisis risks turning back the clock on years of progress made on young people’s well-being and has put their rights under serious pressure across the globe. Issues of access to education, domestic abuse, child labour and lack of decent work are some of the many challenges that many institutions are grappling with. While the universities, NGOs, as well as governments are turning their attention to these problems, young people also have a key role to play in finding solutions.

Poor Education, Poor Economy and Planning the Escape

The South African education system is in crisis. According to Statistics SA, half of all learners drop out of school before reaching matric.

The government fails learners in poor communities by failing to provide schools with adequate infrastructure and qualified teachers. Inequality in South Africa is further exacerbated by an education system that does not adequately prepare learners for the world of work. Learners from disadvantaged communities cannot compete with their peers from affluent communities.