Raphael Malcolm Kaplinsky (born 31 December 1946) is an Honorary Professor at the Science Policy Research Unit and an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. In 2024 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an active and well-known opponent to Apartheid in South Africa during the 1960s, and played a leading role in 1968 in the Mafeje affair. Kaplinsky was not allowed to return to his country of birth until Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, after which he played an active role in policy development at the national and regional levels. He spent the bulk of his professional career at the University of Sussex where he led research programmes on industrial and technology policy and on Global value chain. He led and participated in a number of Advisory Missions to governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.
Kaplinsky's father Morris, a Polish Jew, emigrated to South Africa from the town of Slonim, now in Belarus in 1929. His mother was born in South Africa to Jewish emigres from Lithuania. As a student Kaplinsky took part in Cape Town University's Mafeje affair protests which resulted in him having to flee South Africa to the United Kingdom in the 1960s.
Kaplinsky married Catherine Charlewood, a psychoanalyst in 1969. They have a daughter, Natasha Kaplinsky, a TV presenter (born 1972) a son, Benjamin Kaplinsky, a technology lawyer (born 1975) and four grandchildren.
His daughter, Natasha Kaplinsky with her husband Justin have two children, Arlo and Angelica.
His son Benjamin Kaplinsky and his wife Nicole have 2 children, a daughter Eva and a son Campbell.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (1978). Readings on the multinational corporation in Kenya. Nairobi New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-572445-5.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (1982). Computer-aided design: electronics, comparative advantage and development. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-949520-9.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (1984). Sugar processing: the development of a Third-World technology. London Nairobi: Intermediate Technology Publications Africa Book Services. ISBN 978-0-903031-98-1.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (1984). Automation: the technology and society. Harlow, Essex, UK: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-90203-9.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (1984). Third World industrialisation in the 1980s: open economies in a closing world. London Totowa, New Jersey: F. Cass. ISBN 978-0-7146-3240-7.
Kaplinsky, Raphael; Hoffman, Kurt (1988). Driving force: the global restructuring of technology, labour, and investment in the automobile and components industries. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-7502-1.
Kaplinsky, Raphael; Cooper, Charles (1989). Technology and development in the third industrial revolution. London Savage, Maryland: F. Cass. ISBN 978-0-7146-3389-3.
Kaplinsky, Raphael; et al. (1989). Cane sugar, the small-scale processing option: proceedings of a joint ITDG/IDS conference, 10-11 September 1987. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. ISBN 978-1-85339-015-9.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (1990). The economies of small: appropriate technology in a changing world. London, UK. Washington, D.C., USA: IT Publications Appropriate Technology International. ISBN 978-1-85339-072-2.
Kaplinsky, Raphael; Posthuma, Anne (1994). Easternisation: the spread of Japanese management techniques to developing countries. Ilford, Essex, England Portland, Oregon: F. Cass. ISBN 978-0-7146-4135-5.
Kaplinsky, Raphael; Humphrey, John; Saraph, Prasad V. (1998). Corporate restructuring: Crompton Greaves and the challenge of globalisation. New Delhi Thousand Oaks, California: Response Books. ISBN 978-0-7619-9254-7.
Kaplinsky, Raphael (2005). Globalization, poverty and inequality: between a rock and a hard place. Cambridge, UK Malden, Massachusetts: Polity. ISBN 978-0-7456-3554-5.
Kaplinsky, Raphael and Farooki, Masuma (2011). How China Disrupted Global Commodities: The Reshaping of the World's Resource Sector. Routledge studies in global competition. London: Routledge.