Ethnic Rights and Majority Rule: The Case of South Africa

Abstract

A striking legacy of the attempt of the South African govern ment to use imposed ethnic categories as a basis for apartheid has been an overwhelming rejection by the subordinate communities of the use of ethnicity as the basis in any shape or form for political rights. This is in sharp contrast to the demands for the political recognition of ethnic rights being made elsewhere in the world. Attempts by Lijphart and others to apply consociationalism or other models of power-sharing to South Africa have failed fully to come to terms with the strength of hostility to the use of ethnic categories by the subordinate communities, reflected in the dominant influence of the African National Congress's ideology of non- racialism. This is not to deny that ethnicity has played a role in political divisions among Blacks. In conclusion, it is argued that South Africa's case shows that placing an exclusively ethnic interpretation on political events can be just as misleading as ignoring the potential political influence of ethnicity.