In 1994 South Africa became a democracy for the first time. The euphoria was both local and global as South Africans and the rest of the world looked forward to a new era of equality, shared prosperity, and non-racialism. Thirty years later this idea of South Africa is in tatters. We are convinced that the reason lies in the current system of government, and the weak and unaccountable institutions that make it up.

NSI’s team has deep expertise on institutional research, policy and advocacy. We provide evidence-based policy and applied research on complex problems of government, particularly state capture and public service reform, drawing on the experience of South Africa and other countries in the new South.

We work in collaboration with the stakeholders and the institutions that can implement change, contributing to the public discourse by sharing our insights across multiple channels. Our big data capability and analytics adds significant value to our research.

In South Africa, like in many other parts of the world, weak public institutions are unable to deliver democracy’s promises. Working out how to build effective and accountable institutions in such complex  environments is the number one challenge for the world and the new south, in particular. Solving this problem in South Africa provides key lessons for solving it everywhere.