The purpose of this chapter is to synthesise and summarise all the book’s discussions and conclude the text. It begins by painting a picture of the global scenario which confronted South Africa when it was liberated and when the ANC came back from exile to lead the country to a democratic dispensation. Prior to assuming power, the chapter notes that the ANC had engaged in a process of developing discussion and policy documents which served to inform and guide its choices once it was in power in matters of governance. The chapter reflects on the difficult decisions that this former liberation movement had to make as it tried to respond to the many unmet needs in the country while trying to build a strong economy. It also faced a host of political challenges both domestically and globally, which could have derailed its political programme. The chapter also focusses on the global order, which was being propelled at the time by a fast-paced process of globalisation. The chapter ends with a focus on the turbulent global environment, which is typified by a ‘polycrisis’.