A comprehensive and meticulous discussion of the evolution of a far-reaching, ultimately failed, provincial development plan. Focussing on a discursive analysis, Reynolds records how the social content got burnished away, neoliberal economic prerogatives came to the fore and the government placed to the fore mega-interventions that could make the state look good in obvious ways.

Bill Freund, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Reynolds's compelling policy analysis of the Eastern Cape illustrates how a sophisticated, strategically sensitive approach can explain the limits on state power in challenging the logic and rule of capital in post-apartheid, neoliberal South Africa.

Bob Jessop, Lancaster University

i>'Development Planning in South Africa shines powerful new light on the multi-layered relations of power that limited and undermined a seemingly promising initiative to break the chains of poverty and inequality in the Eastern Cape.

Gillian Hart, University of Berkeley

A fascinating account of the policy process in a developing country. The author's “insider” perspective gives the analysis a particular originality and depth of understanding. Useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students of political economy and development.

Janet Cherry, Nelson Mandela University

An analytically sound, comprehensive treatment of the planning process in the Eastern Cape that gives the reader a case study and general insights about how and why development programmes fail. Not to be missed.

John Weeks, School for Oriental and African Studies