Assoc Prof Ivor Sarakinsky

Associate Professor Ivor Sarakinsky is a political philosopher who now teaches public governance and the green economy at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance. He has supervised numerous topics in these areas and his research is published in top-rated international and national scholarly journals. He has direct experience of the public sector as a Chief Director responsible for the Green Economy in the Economic Development Department. He has also engaged in numerous consulting projects ranging from helping develop the governance assessment methodology for NEPAD’s African Peer Review Mechanism to working with municipalities on their Green Economy strategies and implementation processes. His current research deals with the changing nature of governance from static processes of accountability to complexity and the coordination of institutional sub-units to enable responsiveness to rapidly changing societal demands. These ideas inform his work on the green economy - institutional and financial adaptation and innovation are critical factors for responding to environmental eco-systems while addressing economic growth and employment creation. He has supervised several PhD theses to completion on topics such as decentralisation and governance in Malawi, participation in local government in South Africa and minerals rights and land rights in South Africa. He has also supervised Masters’ full theses on political risk and political philosophy to completion. He supervises course-work research reports on a diverse range of topics ranging from performance management in SOEs to gaming and betting regulation with local, provincial, and national governance topics in between. He is also a regular contributor to public debate on South Africa’s contemporary governance and political issues. His opinion pieces are published in a range of media and he appears regularly on TV and radio as an expert commentator.