Rasigan Maharajh is a South African academic, activist-scholar, and research leader with work experience spanning over four decades. His research focuses on evolutionary political economy of science, technology, and innovation. He has held significant leadership roles in national and international institutions and has an extensive record of scholarly publications, community engagements, and global collaborations. Rasigan has a Ph.D. in the Political Economy of Research Policy from Lund University and is concurrently: Full Professor of Public Affairs at Tshwane University of Technology; Elected Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa; Associate Research Fellow of the Tellus Institute; Ministerial Representative to the Council of Rhodes University; and Trustee of the Canon Collins Trust.
EDUCATION
1987: Reservoir Hills Secondary School: Matriculation.
1993: Development Contact Network: Logical Framework Matrix Methodology
1997 – 1998: Global Business Network: Basic and Advanced Scenario Development and Planning Modules
1998: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research: Advanced Leadership Programme Certificate of Outstanding Merit.
1999: Think Tools AG: Basic, Intermediate and Advance Methodology and Application Modules
2004: Cynefin Centre for Organisational Complexity: Complexity Fundamentals and Certification Course
1992: University of Natal: Bachelor of Arts (Economic History and Sociology)
1993: Harvard University Kennedy School: Education Policy Analysis and Planning Certificate
1994: University of Natal: Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Economic History
1999: Harvard University Business School: Senior Executive Programme for Southern Africa
2011: Lund University Forskningspolitiska Institutet, School of Economics and Management: Doctor of Philosophy
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Multidisciplinary, Social Sciences, Sociology and Political Science, History and Philosophy of Science
10
Scopus Publications
1357
Scholar Citations
14
Scholar h-index
18
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Forty Years After: Personality and History (Part I) Russia in Global Affairs, 2025 Forty years since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, Russia in Global Affairs asked political scientists and international relations experts in different countries to say how, living in a completely different world of today, they assess the events of that time and the role of his ‘new political thinking.’
Innovation and technological change in South Africa Erika Kraemer-Mbula, Rasigan Maharajh Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy, 2021 This chapter explores the main achievements and remaining challenges in the governance of the South African science, technology, and innovation (STI) system. While reflecting on the inherited features from the apartheid period, it focuses on the period between the two White Papers in 1996 and 2019. The chapter discusses the main shifts in policy emphasis (intents) of these two policy/institutional developments and connects them to the STI system performance and its measurement. It shows that the drastic shift in policy orientation towards addressing social imperatives and the quantitative improvements in the STI outputs since 1994, have not materialized in a radical transformation of the economy or the social relations inherited from apartheid. The chapter argues that the assessment of the STI system needs to be expanded through an evolutionary lens in order to activate the needed systemic transformations.
Understanding systems of innovation in Africa M Scerri, A Mutua, B Okolo, E Makheta, G Karuri-Sebina, M Kaggwa, ... 2025
Africa’s Strategic Partnerships with BRICS and Other Emerging Countries R Maharajh New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy 98 (1) , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Africa’s Strategic Partnerships with BRICS and other Emerging Countries Review by Rasigan Maharajh S Zondi, H Adogo, R Maharajh New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy 2025 (98 … , 2025 2025
Ecocide or Socialism: Ecological Challenges and Neoliberal Capitalist Constrains on Radical Transformation 1 R Maharajh, S Tivana Mzala Nxumalo, Leftist Thought and Contemporary South Africa, 301-321 , 2024 2024 Citations: 1
Creatively Destroying Vaccine Apartheid: Emerging STI Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Combined, Uneven, yet Common, Global Context R Maharajh Reimagining Innovation Systems in the COVID and Post-COVID World, 121-132 , 2023 2023
THE FATE OF MANKIND IS AGAIN CLOSELY INTERTWINED WITH THE FATE OF RUSSIA D Hamid, G Arvind, M Kishore, M Rasigan, X Lanxin, J Dayan, C Brahma, ... Russia in Global Affairs 21 (1 (81)), 50-65 , 2023 2023
Innovation and Technological Change in South Africa E Kraemer-Mbula, R Maharajh The Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy, 467-488 , 2021 2021 Citations: 1
Dear President Ramaphosa B Turok New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy 2019 (74), 14-15 , 2019 2019
Economic policy substance and process: letter to Finance Minister MT Mboweni, MC Ramaphosa, MR Davies, ME Patel 2019
Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Need for ‘Creative Destruction’Beyond Technological Change R Maharajh Perspectives Africa 3, 30-34 , 2018 2018 Citations: 9
The global crisis of inequality and its South African manifestations D Pillay New South African Review 6: The Crisis of Inequality , 2018 2018 Citations: 7
New South African Review 6: The Crisis of Inequality JA van Wyk, S Vally, S Oloruntoba, D Neves, J Mudronova, S Mnwana, ... Wits University Press , 2018 2018
Education, the state and class inequality: The case for free higher education in South Africa E Motala, S Vally, R Maharajh New South African Review 6, 167-182 , 2018 2018 Citations: 28
The policy environment and policy options for the South African system of innovation M Scerri, R Maharajh The Emergence of Systems of Innovation in South (ern) Africa: Long Histories … , 2016 2016 Citations: 3
Quality, free university education is necessary–and possible S Vally, E Motala, L Naidoo, M Hlatshwayo, R Maharajh Mail and Guardian 28 , 2016 2016 Citations: 5
SOUTH CHINA SEA: THE ISLANDS OF DISCORD. GM Lokshin Aziya i Afrika segodnya , 2015 2015 Citations: 3
Fictions, factors and futures: reflections on Africa's' impressive growth' A Segobye, R Maharajh, A Sall, G Karuri-Sebina 2015
Flight of the flamingos: a study on the mobility of R&D workers TE Pogue, G Cele, M Du Toit, M Kahn, V Reddy, W Blankley, R Maharajh HSRC Publishers , 2015 2015
Health innovation systems, equity and development JE Cassiolato, MCC Soares E-papersServiços Editoriais , 2015 2015 Citations: 34
Being Well in the Early 21st Century: Contemporary Dynamics in the Political Economy of Health R Maharajh Chapter , 2015 2015 Citations: 2
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
New activities of universities in transfer and extension: multiple requirements and manifold solutions B Göransson, R Maharajh, U Schmoch Science and public policy 36 (2), 157-164 , 2009 2009 Citations: 219
South Africa: Reforming higher education and transforming the national system of innovation R Maharajh, E Motala, M Scerri Universities in transition: The changing role and challenges for academic … , 2011 2011 Citations: 204
Global innovation in emerging economies P Reddy Routledge , 2011 2011 Citations: 125
Inequality and Development Challenges: BRICS National Systems of Innovation MCC Soares, M Scerri, R Maharajh India: Routledge , 2014 2014 Citations: 102
Overcoming underdevelopment in South Africa's second economy M Aliber, M Kirsten, R Maharajh, J Nhlapo-Hlope, O Nkoane Development Southern Africa 23 (01), 45-61 , 2006 2006 Citations: 97
Introduction: New challenges for universities beyond education and research B Göransson, R Maharajh, U Schmoch Science and Public Policy 36 (2), 83-84 , 2009 2009 Citations: 84
Innovation Systems for ICT: The case of South Africa R Maharajh, A Baskaran, M Muchie Bridging the Digital Divide: Innovation Systems for ICT in Brazil, China … , 2006 2006 Citations: 78
Flight of the Flamingos: A Study on the Mobility of R&D Workers M Kahn, W Blankley, R Maharajh, TE Pogue, V Reddy, G Cele, M du Toit Cape Town: HSRC Publishers, 128 , 2004 2004 Citations: 78
Health innovation systems, equity and development JE Cassiolato, MCC Soares E-papersServiços Editoriais , 2015 2015 Citations: 34
Innovation Strategies in Developing Countries R Maharajh, E Kraemer-Mbula Innovation and the Development Agenda, 133-151 , 2010 2010 Citations: 32
The anti-capitalist dictionary: Movements, histories and motivations DE Lowes Zed Books , 2006 2006 Citations: 32
Innovating beyond Racial Capitalism: A Contribution towards the Analysis of the Political Economy of Post-Apartheid South Africa. R Maharajh Lund University , 2011 2011 Citations: 31
Education, the state and class inequality: The case for free higher education in South Africa E Motala, S Vally, R Maharajh New South African Review 6, 167-182 , 2018 2018 Citations: 28
Technological Change for Local Economic Growth and Development R Maharajh, T Pogue Sustainable Manufacturing?: The Case of South Africa and Ekurhuleni, 46-60 , 2006 2006 Citations: 17
The Co-evolution of Innovation and Inequality M Scerri, MCC Soares, R Maharajh Inequality and Development Challenges, 1-18 , 2014 2014 Citations: 14
The informal sector and the challenges of development in South Africa. LL Ndabeni, R Maharajh 2013 Citations: 13
Fictions, Factors and Futures: Reflections on Africa's ‘impressive growth’ G Karuri-Sebina, A Sall, R Maharajh, A Segobye Development 55 (4), 491-496 , 2012 2012 Citations: 11
Africa toward 2030: challenges for development policy E Lundsgaarde Springer , 2011 2011 Citations: 10
Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Need for ‘Creative Destruction’Beyond Technological Change R Maharajh Perspectives Africa 3, 30-34 , 2018 2018 Citations: 9
Sustentabilidade socioambiental em um contexto de crise JE Cassiolato, MG Podcameni, MCC Soares CEP 20, 006 , 2015 2015 Citations: 8