Macro-Structural Factors for Democratization in South Africa: Racial and Ethnic Cleavages in Apartheid Period

Abstract

Several cleavages, amongst which, race was (and still is) a dominant cleavage, can be identified in the South African society. The most important sources of cleavages prior to, and at the time of the transition to democracy, were race and ethnicity, class, and ideology. These cleavages often coincided with each other. The overlap of race, ethnicity, class and ideology were so intertwined, that to some scholars it seemed total. Lijphart, using Rae and Taylor's index of fragmentation, calculated the division by “ethnic” groups (14 in total - including Afrikaners and English) of South Africa as 0.89. On a scale of 0 to 1, the value is 0 for a completely homogeneous society (the possibility of belonging to different segments is nil). The value 1 occurs in the hypothetical society where each individual belongs to a different segment. South Africa's score is close to that of a completely fragmented society. This aspect of South Africa's transition is of particular importance in this thesis - that is democratisation in a divided society, particularly, in the presence of.