South Africa in Transition: The Misunderstood Miracle

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, 1999 - 211 pages

The most surprising aspect of South Africa's transition has been the speed of the move from National Party government, based on white Afrikaaner support, to one dominated by the ANC, with overwhelming support among Africans except in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. In this stimulating study, Adrian Guelke argues that the widely-held view of the emergence of the new South Africa as a modern miracle has to be viewed with extreme caution. The author begins in the 1980s when political analysts spoke of political impasse and when the ""elusive search for peace"" seemed mired in insoluble problems. He considers the period from the release of Mandela up to the 1994 elections and argues that the undoubted success story must be seen against the background of exploding economic and social problems, as well as polarization on racial lines, reinforced by ANC dominance. South Africa's path to majority rule bears a strong resemblance to that of other formerly white settler-dominated states like Kenya, Zimbabwe and Namibia; but the ""miracle"" has been misunderstood and the political achievement overshadowed by the problems inherited from the old regime.

From inside the book

 

Contents

The Release of Mandela and the End of the Cold War
23
Violence and the Transition
45
The Passivity of the Extreme Right 62
62
Copyright

6 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

1994 elections African National Congress African political system Allister Sparks ANC's Angola apartheid April argued Bophuthatswana Buthelezi campaign Cape Town cent Coloured conflict consociational context country's democracy Democratic Party dominant Eastern Europe economic electorate ethnic extreme right factor February Freedom Front further Giliomee Government of National government's Ibid IFP's Inkatha Inkatha Freedom Party Institute of Race interim constitution issue Johannesburg KwaZulu KwaZulu-Natal leaders legitimacy liberal liberalisation majority rule ment miracle MPLA Multi-Party Negotiating Namibia Natal National Assembly National Party National Unity Nelson Mandela non-racial organisation outcome party's peace political violence polling power sharing province Race Relations racial reconciliation Record of Understanding reflected region result right-wing role SACP sanctions Savimbi Schlemmer security forces Slabbert South Africa South African government South African Institute South African political South African transition Soviet tion townships underlined UNITA volkstaat vote voters Western Cape white minority Zimbabwe

About the author (1999)

Adrian Guelke is Professor of International Relations at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Bibliographic information

TitleSouth Africa in Transition: The Misunderstood Miracle
Volume 10 of International Library of African Studies
South Africa in Transition: The Misunderstood Miracle, Adrian Guelke, ISBN 1860640788, 9781860640780
AuthorAdrian Guelke
PublisherBloomsbury Academic, 1999
ISBN1860643434, 9781860643439
Length211 pages
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan