First, I describe the way ideas of shares have figured in recent resource
nationalism (especially in South Africa) and then reflect on the limits of
such a politics. Second, I assess the achievements of the new programs of
social assistance and note the way they are limited by certain fundamental
and per�sis�tent conceptions concerning the nature and purpose of social
payments. Finally, I consider a case (the basic income grant campaign in
Namibia) in which social transfers are being reimagined in ways that allow
the idea of a “rightful share” to take on a quite different significance than
it does in traditional discussions of nationalization of natural resources.