Three Core Areas of Analysis
Power dynamics, political transitions, and security developments across East and Southern Africa — examining how regional actors interact and compete.
Public debt, taxation policy, and macroeconomic governance — assessing the fiscal pressures facing states and their implications for stability.
State-led development strategies, trade integration, and economic transformation — how policy choices shape long-term development trajectories.
Recent & Important Work
South Africa's Industrial Policy and Regional Economic Influence
South Africa is the most industrialised economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and the anchor of the SADC region yet its GDP per capita is lower today than it was in 2010, unemployment stands at 32.7%, and manufacturing has failed to recover meaningfully despite four consecutive quarters of growth. The Government of National Unity has repositioned energy-led growth as the central national strategy, and the momentum is real. But momentum concentrated in network industries rather than productive industrial expansion is not transformation. This brief examines whether South Africa can close the gap between ambition and execution, and whether its regional influence in SADC can survive the credibility cost of its domestic industrial struggles.
Hope Mutiso is a political economy researcher focusing on governance, geopolitics, and macroeconomic dynamics in East and Southern Africa. Her work examines how political institutions, fiscal policy, and regional power dynamics shape economic stability and development across the region.