Steven Friedman is a prominent South African political scientist, academic, and public intellectual. He currently serves as the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg and is a leading expert on South Africa’s democratic transition and social policy.
Friedman has made pioneering contributions to the study of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. Formerly a researcher at the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), he is a long-standing political columnist whose insights have profoundly shaped public debate on civil society and the distribution of power. His academic body of work extensively explores the balance between minority rights and majority rule, serving as essential literature for understanding contemporary South African politics.
Friedman is one of the most resolute Jewish anti-Zionists in South Africa. Drawing on the South African experience, he offers sharp critiques of Israeli policies, defining them as a modern form of apartheid. In his book Good Jew, Bad Jew and numerous essays, he has noted: “Jewish moral responsibility demands that we reject any form of ethnic exclusivism, especially when that exclusivism leads to the dispossession of another people.” He actively supports the BDS movement and contends that advocating for Palestinian freedom is the ultimate expression of upholding Jewish ethical values.