Patrick is Distinguished Professor of Political Economy at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Previously, from 2004-16, he directed the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, raised in Alabama, and educated in economics at Swarthmore College, finance at the University of Pennsylvania, and geography at Johns Hopkins University. He is active with social movements in South Africa, Zimbabwe and internationally. Recent books are BRICS and Resistance in Africa (co-edited with Justin van der Merwe and Nicole Dodd, for Zed Books, 2019); BRICS: An Anti-Capitalist Critique (co-edited with Ana Garcia for Haymarket Books, 2015); South Africa: The Present as History (co-authored with John Saul for James Currey Press, 2014); Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa (Pluto Press, 2014); and Politics of Climate Justice (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2012).