After an extended hiatus in academia and in a policy-making environment for two decades, Ismail Lagardien is back writing independently, again. His career as a journalist was forged over 14 years, from its early start at the Rand Daily Mail and Sunday Express, to marginal involvement in the Weekly Mail, and finally, as the first political correspondent for Sowetan, until 1995. Over this extended period he also did regular work for the BBC World Service (radio and television), Reuters, the SundayTribune and The Star. For 10 Years, between 1985 and 1995, he was the Southern Africa Correspondent and a columnist for the New Straits Times of Malaysia. Ismail is from Eldorado Park, was educated at the London School of Economics, and holds a doctorate in International Political Economy.