{{short description|South African academic}}
{{EngvarB|date = May 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox academic | name = Annette Seegers | occupation = Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town | era = | discipline = Political science | sub_discipline = Security studies<br />Conflict studies | alma_mater = University of Pretoria <small>(BA, MA)</small><br />Loyola University Chicago <small>(PhD)</small> | main_interests = Civil–military relations, war, armed forces in democratic transitions | influences = | thesis_url = https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2311/ | thesis_year = 1983 | thesis_title = Revolution in Africa: The Case of Zimbabwe (1965–1980) | doctoral_advisor = Sam Sarkesian | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|08|14|df=yes}} | birth_place = East London, South Africa | notable_works = ''The Military and the Making of Modern South Africa'' (1996) }}
'''Annette Seegers''' (born 14 August 1952) is a South African academic who is emeritus professor in political studies at the University of Cape Town, where she has taught since 1986. She is best known for her research on civil–military relations in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa.
== Academic background == Born in East London, Seegers completed her undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of Pretoria. During her latter years there, she was attached as a researcher to the Institute for Strategic Studies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Seegers |first=Annette |date=1983-01-01 |title=Revolution in Africa: The Case of Zimbabwe (1965-1980) |url=https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2311 |journal=Dissertations}}</ref> She attended the Loyola University Chicago on a Fulbright Scholarship and completed her PhD, under the supervision of Sam Sarkesian,<ref name=":0" /> in 1984.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Department of International Relations: Annette Seegers |url=https://www.da-vienna.ac.at/en/Faculty/Department-of-International-Relations |access-date=2023-05-27 |website=Vienna School of International Studies}}</ref>
== Academic positions == Seegers joined the political studies department at the University of Cape Town in 1986 and became a full professor in 1998.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Emeritus Professor Annette Seegers |url=https://humanities.uct.ac.za/department-politics/contacts/annette-seegers |access-date=28 May 2023 |website=University of Cape Town}}</ref> She was a longstanding head of the department.<ref name=":1" /> She was also a visiting professor at Princeton University between 1999 and 2016, and since 2018 has been a visiting professor at the Vienna School of International Studies.<ref name=":1" />
Seegers held a variety of research and policy roles during South Africa's post-apartheid transition: she was a member of the technical committee on political violence at the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum; a political analyst at the Independent Electoral Commission in the run-up to the 1994 general election; an advisor to the head of research at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and a technical advisor to the Constitutional Assembly that drafted the 1996 South African Constitution, in which capacity she was attached to the committee that drafted chapter 11 on the security forces and prisons.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> She remained involved in defence and security policymaking in subsequent years.<ref name=":1" /> She has also served on the editorial board of ''Social Dynamics''<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1991 |title=Editorial board |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533959108458499 |journal=Social Dynamics |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=ebi |doi=10.1080/02533959108458499 |issn=0253-3952|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and ''African Security Review''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Editorial board |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/action/aboutThisJournal?show=editorialBoard&journalCode=rasr20 |access-date=28 May 2023 |website=African Security Review}}</ref>
== Scholarship == Seegers's primary research interests are civil-military relations; inter- and intrastate wars; security studies; and the role of armed forces during transitions to democracy. Her usual focus is on cases from Africa.<ref name=":1" />
She is best known for her research about the role of the South African military during apartheid and during the post-apartheid transition. Her 1996 book, ''The Military and the Making of Modern South Africa,'' was among the first on that topic<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cock |first=Jacklyn |date=1997 |title=Review of The Military in the Making of Modern South Africa |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24487370 |journal=African Sociological Review / Revue Africaine de Sociologie |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=171–175 |jstor=24487370 |issn=1027-4332}}</ref> and was described as "pathbreaking".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dale |first=Richard |date=1998 |title=Review of The Military and the Making of Modern South Africa |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45346828 |journal=Armed Forces & Society |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=467–469 |doi=10.1177/0095327X9802400311 |jstor=45346828 |s2cid=145655475 |issn=0095-327X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It was warmly received by her contemporaries,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Southall |first=Roger |date=1997 |title=The Military in the Making of Modern South Africa by Annette Seegers. London, I.B. Tauris Academic Studies, 1996. Pp. viii+356. £34.50. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/military-in-the-making-of-modern-south-africa-by-annette-seegers-london-ib-tauris-academic-studies-1996-pp-viii356-3450/69BEC28E48D60582C986D0C7EC9DE8C1 |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |language=en |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=519–546 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X97232544 |s2cid=153803026 |issn=1469-7777|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ranger |first1=Terence |last2=Green |first2=Maia |last3=Kaarsholm |first3=Preben |last4=Kynoch |first4=Gary |last5=von Lieres |first5=Bettina |last6=Coetzee |first6=Carli |last7=Makoni |first7=Sinfree |last8=Pélissier |first8=R. |date=1997 |title=Book reviews |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057079708708545 |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies |language=en |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=383–395 |doi=10.1080/03057079708708545 |bibcode=1997JSAfS..23..383R |issn=0305-7070|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Volman |first=Daniel |date=1998 |title=Review of The Military in the Making of Modern South Africa |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/220915 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=161–162 |doi=10.2307/220915 |jstor=220915 |issn=0361-7882|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Patrick |date=1996 |title=Review of The Military in the Making of Modern South Africa. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2624238 |journal=International Affairs |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=860 |doi=10.2307/2624238 |jstor=2624238 |issn=0020-5850|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and it became a seminal work in the field.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Rebecca Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yp5KLXsquMC&q=annette+seegers+seminal |title=Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 1998-2002: Reviews of Scholarly Titles that Every Library Should Own |date=2003 |publisher=Association of College & Research Libraries |isbn=978-0-8389-8232-7 |pages=510 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Scholtz |first=Leopold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=psjnDwAAQBAJ |title=The SADF and Cuito Cuanavale: A Tactical and Strategic Analysis |date=2020-02-15 |publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers |isbn=978-1-928248-04-0 |language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://humanities.uct.ac.za/department-politics/contacts/annette-seegers Emeritus Professor Annette Seegers] at University of Cape Town * [https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/special/conscrip/conscr01.htm 1997 presentation] to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Seegers, Annette}} Category:Living people Category:1952 births Category:People from East London, South Africa Category:University of Pretoria alumni Category:Loyola University Chicago alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Cape Town Category:South African political scientists Category:Women political scientists Category:South African women academics