In this the tenth edition of State of the Nation since 2003, the editors return to consider issues that have been explored in earlier editions: inequality, which was explored in 2018, 2014 and 2012-3, and politics, explored in particular in 2016. In this edition, however, the themes of inequality and politics are being explored through a new lens: that of ethics. The concept of ethics adopted in the volume has at least two aspects: the first, argued for in the first chapter by Bohler-Muller, Reddy and Soudien, is an 'ethics of care', in which a democratic project should enlarge and energise the connection between care and politics (p. 3) and thus address the challenges of inequality and poverty. The second relates to an ethics of leadership, explored in the chapter by Calland and Nederlof Sithole on the Presidency. In defining an ethics of leadership, the authors draw on the work of Den Hartog who argues that ethical leaders act with fairness, respect and integrity: make principled choices, are trustworthy and do not practice favouritism.