Shawn Hagedorn
For 20 years, Shawn Hagedorn has been regularly writing articles in leading SA publications, focusing primarily on economic development. For over two years, he wrote a biweekly column titled “Myths and Misunderstandings” without ever lacking subject material. Visit shawn-hagedorn.com/, and follow him on Twitter @shawnhagedorn
Articles By This Author
AI is arriving in the nick of time
Media channels sharpen society’s tribal cleavages – thus eroding governance – by making news reporting an exercise in judging.
How reliable an ally is the US?
Biased reporting underplays global shifts and the US’s core interests.
Which country should represent Africa globally?
Fundamental to answering this question is to ask another: what should that country prioritise? Africa’s global representatives should prioritise development. Moral framing has been over-emphasised
Assessing today’s shifting global order
We are overwhelmed by news flows – which are rarely reported objectively – while knowing little about how national leaders make key decisions.
“Durban V” versus moving beyond racial politics
Just as “war is politics by other means,” racial politics can offer paths to power via coercive means.
Why Africa’s middle class is so small
Understanding Africa’s upliftment challenges should guide South Africa’s growth policies.
Beyond liberation-era economics and foreign relations
Despite being greeted by gushing global goodwill, ANC leaders chose policies hostile toward this era’s primary growth driver, global integration.
Navigating through today’s global shifts
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Herbert Stein, economist.
SA’s 21st century “apartheid”
ANC leaders were not interested in shifting from their liberation struggle to competing in the global economy; our economic woes evolved accordingly.
What skill must SA master?
“Play the ball where it’s going, not where it is.” That saying is attributed to a legendary Liverpool football manager, Bill Shankly, but the advice