The Nationalists, Apartheid and Opposition in South Africa's Parliament (1948-1970)

Abstract

The study discusses the political mechanism, which imposed the Apartheid system in the Republic of South Africa. This range of problems is introduced through an analysis of the social and political development of Africaner Nationalism, which produced the concept of segregation. The political balance of forces in South Africa's Parliament, which in the course of two decades has been distrupted in favour of the Nationalist Parly, thanks to election law, is studied in detail. The platforms and programmes of the Nalionalists and the Liberal opposition supply arguments showing how vicious formal democratic structures with insolved national or racial problems could be. From historical point of view this is a unique period, despite the fact, hat similar processes manifested themselves in some of the former East European Communist countries. The South African example demonstrates the movement of ultra conservative ideas and concepts within democratic institutions or emmanaiting from them, at the same time showing how
transient they are.