The Chair brings together scholars and students working on real-world challenges of governance, democracy, and social justice in South Africa.
Established in 2018, the Niche Area in Citizenship and Democracy at UWC’s Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences addresses critical challenges facing South Africa’s democracy. The niche area strengthens and connects research across the Faculty, creating opportunities for collaboration and intellectual exchange to support the development of a more just and democratic South Africa.
The Challenge:
South Africa’s democracy holds both extraordinary promise and profound contradictions. While our Constitution envisions a country that “belongs to all who live in it,” persistent inequalities shaped by race, class, and gender remain deeply entrenched. Economic growth has been uneven, millions remain excluded from the mainstream economy, and governance challenges threaten democratic institutions. Globally, democracy is under pressure as citizens lose faith in democratic institutions and core principles of human equality, gender equity, and human rights face rollback.
Our work spans six interconnected themes:
1. Governance and Informality in Urban and Rural Settlements
Examining how residents, civil society, and hybrid institutions negotiate power, services, and belonging where state authority is weak, absent, or contested across urban and rural spaces.
2. Democracy, Participation and Citizenship
Exploring how people engage with democracy—from voting and citizen assemblies to protest and informal claim-making—and what these practices reveal about the evolving relationship between citizens and the state.
3. Reforming the Administrative State
Addressing the urgent need to transform South Africa’s public administration through digitalization, gender-responsive budgeting, service delivery reforms, and polycentric governance.
4. Migration, Vulnerability, and Resilience
Studying how people at society’s margins—migrants, precarious workers, informal settlement residents—navigate vulnerability using social networks, solidarity, and resilience to secure food, livelihoods, and access to services.
5. Environment, Infrastructure, and Just Transitions
Exploring how access to water, energy, sanitation, housing, and transport intersect with environmental justice and climate change in communities navigating inequality and informality.
6. Education, Knowledge and the Role of Universities
Examining how education and knowledge production shape democratic life, and universities’ civic role as spaces of activism, critical inquiry, and protection for human rights defenders.
Prof. Fiona Anciano (2025 – present)
Professor Anciano’s research explores democracy and governance in South African cities, focusing on what happens when the state fails to deliver and how power is negotiated between government, civil society, and residents. She leads the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group and an ambitious programme on democratic participation.
Prof. Greg Ruiters (2019 – 2024)
Professor Ruiters focused on demystifying superficial rainbow-nation optimism and supporting activists and political movements pushing back against racialized injustice and inequality.
The niche area supports research and collaboration through:
Date: October 14-15, 2025
Partners: African Universities Hub for Human Rights, UNESCO Chair for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and the Expansion of Political Space
This two-day symposium at UWC explores key challenges, emerging research, and practices by universities that host human rights defenders or play other roles in the protection of human rights.
The symposium will:
+27 (0) 21 959 2957
4th Floor, EMS Building
University of the Western Cape
Robert Sobukwe Road
Bellville 7530