A Comparative Study of the Namibian and South African Transitions to Democracy and the Effects on Reconciliation

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Namibian transition to independence and the South African transition to amajority democracy have many similarities as well as differences. The key similarities arecomposed of the shared history and mutual influences on society, the economy andnational politics. Key differences constitute the manner in which the transitions wereexecuted: internationally imposed in the Namibian case, and internally negotiated in theSouth African case. Almost every facet of Namibian and South African societies havein some way or another been imprinted by the respective transitions, which alsocontributed to the shape of the national consciousness. However, decades of stateenforcedracial discrimination in the form of Apartheid legislation left its mark on boththe Namibian and South African society. As a result, public and private consciousness ismarred with racial and ethnic identities created and legislated during Apartheid, which ishampering democratic consolidation.This study provides a comparison between the South African and Namibiantransitions, within the broader context of democratic consolidation. This study contendsthat reconciliation is a necessary condition for democratic consolidation in SouthAfrica and Namibia, and aims to assess whether there is any significant difference betweenthe impact of the internationally orchestrated Namibian transition as opposed to theinternally negotiated South African transition on levels of reconciliation in the twocountries. This is done by applying Gibson's (2004) four criteria of reconciliation(interracial reconciliation, political tolerance, support for the principles of democracy andlegitimacy) to the South African and Namibian cases. The hypothesis is that there shouldbe less support for democratic ideals in Namibia than in South Africa, on the basis thatdemocracy was, to a certain degree, forced unto Namibian society, while it was freelychosen by South African society.The main finding of this study, however, suggests that the differences in the transition style -the one being internationally orchestrated and the other being internally negotiated- seems notto have had any significant affect on national reconciliation. It seems as thoughhostility between different groups based mainly on the superficial racial and ethnicdifferences that were created during Apartheid has made way for hostility centred more onsocio-economic differences. While socio-economic issues have become the overridingconcern for both South Africans and Namibians, socio-economic differences betweenindividuals and groups are still largely tied to ethnicity and race.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University