Exporting Western housing theories and its relevance in the context of a developing country: the case study of South Africa Housing and Social Theories Anita Venter 1 NHR 2010 Colloquium, Istanbul Exporting Western housing theories and its relevance in the context of a developing country: the case study of South Africa Anita Venter Centre for Development Support University of the Free State, ventera@ufs.ac.za +27 051 4013731 Keywords: Housing theories: Comparative analysis: Welfare state theories: Path dependency: South Africa Theoretical developments in housing studies that have came to the foreground in Western Europe since the 1990s, have gone largely unnoticed to the housing academia in developing countries. Theoretical writing on housing policy in developing countries tends to be restricted to either focusing on empirical policy studies, or analysing housing policies from a political economy perspective. The main argument of this paper is that the incorporation of the theoretical developments of the past two decades in Western Europe can greatly enrich and encourage scholarship on housing policy in South Africa. This paper will firstly describe prominent concepts and theoretical frameworks used since 1990 in the context of developed countries that might prove valuable in understanding housing phenomena in the context of developing countries. The concept of comparative analysis will be discussed in more detail. This will be followed by a discussion on path dependency and a brief discussion of the Esping-Andersons welfare regime theory. The last section of the paper will show the relevance that these international conceptual and theoretical frameworks might have in interpreting and analysing the South African housing policies. Introduction Housing researchers are faced with a vast and diverse field of studies describing housing systems and the policies that helped shape these systems. In addition, housing studies is generally not regarded as discipline on its own, but rather as a field of activity, a part of the larger multifaceted policy and practice discourse (Oxley, 2001:92). Accordingly, theoretical frameworks fall into the broader categories of economic, political and sociological paradigms. Although housing policy studies do form part of the greater urban debate, publications on housing policy are abundant and through using discourse analysis as methodological tool certain theoretical and ideological paradigms can be identified. This paper examines prominent theoretical approaches as reflected in housing policy literature. Since it is impossible to reflect on all relevant theoretical frameworks and influences in one chapter, the main focus is on theoretical frameworks that might have value for analysing the South African housing policy. The overarching theoretical paradigm under which the frameworks to be discussed fall, is that of discourse analysis. The first section of this paper reflects on theoretical developments related to housing policy in developing