Volume 8, Issue 2, September 2014, Pages 218–223
David Berat1
1 Department for IPA, General Secretariat of the Government of Republic Macedonia, Macedonia
Original language: English
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The article summarizes the racial conflicts in South Africa between the white and black population, apartheid structures, seasonal effects from the conflicts, and involvement of the United Nations in the racial issues. This paper is meant as a contributor towards the ongoing search for new means of managing ethnic conflicts in Africa. Using South Africa as a case study, it compares the management of ethnic and racial conflicts and shows the difficulties in managing deep-rooted and complex conflicts. The government of South Africa has taken bold constitutional steps to reduce tension, but the continuing ethnic and religious conflicts raise questions about the effectiveness of these mechanisms. The paper shows that ethnic conflict arose as a result of the denial of the basic human needs of access, identity, autonomy, security and equality, compounded by the autocratic roles played by the government and the military. Preservation of the ethnic peace is dependent upon the type and effectiveness of the available conflict management mechanisms and also the respective government's policy choices and decisions. For achieving a lasting peace, South Africa should challenge the actions of ethnic leaders who have used violent ethnic conflict for personal gain. The final conclusion of the paper is that ethnic conflicts are negative sum game in which there are no benefits for both sides.
Author Keywords: Apartheid, Racial conflict, Racism, Repression, South Africa.
David Berat1
1 Department for IPA, General Secretariat of the Government of Republic Macedonia, Macedonia
Original language: English
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The article summarizes the racial conflicts in South Africa between the white and black population, apartheid structures, seasonal effects from the conflicts, and involvement of the United Nations in the racial issues. This paper is meant as a contributor towards the ongoing search for new means of managing ethnic conflicts in Africa. Using South Africa as a case study, it compares the management of ethnic and racial conflicts and shows the difficulties in managing deep-rooted and complex conflicts. The government of South Africa has taken bold constitutional steps to reduce tension, but the continuing ethnic and religious conflicts raise questions about the effectiveness of these mechanisms. The paper shows that ethnic conflict arose as a result of the denial of the basic human needs of access, identity, autonomy, security and equality, compounded by the autocratic roles played by the government and the military. Preservation of the ethnic peace is dependent upon the type and effectiveness of the available conflict management mechanisms and also the respective government's policy choices and decisions. For achieving a lasting peace, South Africa should challenge the actions of ethnic leaders who have used violent ethnic conflict for personal gain. The final conclusion of the paper is that ethnic conflicts are negative sum game in which there are no benefits for both sides.
Author Keywords: Apartheid, Racial conflict, Racism, Repression, South Africa.
How to Cite this Article
David Berat, “RACIAL CONFLICTS IN SOUTH AFRICA: ARGUMENTS AND DEFECTS OF THE APARTHEID STRUCTURES,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 218–223, September 2014.
