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33 Stan. J. Int'l L. 375 (1997)
The Negotiated Revolution: South Africa's Transition to a Multiracial Democracy

handle is hein.journals/stanit33 and id is 385 raw text is: Note
The Negotiated Revolution:
South Africa's Transition to a
Multiracial Democracy
PETER N. BOUCKAERT*
I. INTRODUCTION
South Africa's transition from a security state based on racial domi-
nance into a vibrant multiracial democracy undoubtedly ranks as one of
the greatest political achievements of this century. In just a decade, the
country was able to end four centuries of conflict which had turned it
into a pariah state, and become a model of national reconciliation.
Compared to other transitions from white settler rule in countries such
as Algeria' and Zimbabwe,2 the transition in South Africa is remarkable
for the relatively peaceful manner by which it achieved national recon-
ciliation.
This Note will explore the events which led to South Africa's transi-
tion, focusing on the strategy of the African National Congress (ANC)
during the negotiations. It will first highlight some lessons from the
* J.D. Candidate, 1997, Stanford Law School. Graduate Fellow, Stanford Center on Conflict
and Negotiation. I would like to thank Melanie Greenberg, Jonathan Greenberg, and Lourens
du Plessis for their helpful comments. Additional thanks are due Tini Duong and Sara Gross
Methner for their fine editing.
1 See, e.g., FRANTZ FANON, THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH (1963) (advocating, inter alia, the
use of violence in the struggle against French colonialism in Algeria); ALASTAIR HORNE, A
SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE: ALGERIA, 1954-1962 (1977) (a history of the Algerian liberation struggle
against French colonialism); WILLIAM B. QUANDT, REVOLUTION AND POLlTICAL LEADERSHIP:
ALGERIA, 1954-1968 (1969) (a study of the ideology of the revolutionary elite who led Algeria's
war of national liberation).
See e.g., PETER GODWIN & IAN HANCOCK, RHODESIANS NEVER DIE (1993) (chronicling the
end of white rule in Rhodesia); PETER GODWIN, MUKIWA: A WHITE BOY IN AFRICA (1996) (a
memoir on Rhodesia's collapse as a British colony); BRUCE MOORE-KING, WHITE MAN, BLACK
WAR (1988) (a white Rhodesian soldier's account of Zimbabwe's war of liberation); STEPHEN J.
STEDMAN, PEACEMAKING IN CIVIL WAR: INTERNATIONAL MEDIATION IN ZIMBABWE, 1974-1980
(1991) (documenting the international mediation efforts which helped end the Rhodesian con-
flict).
375
33 STAN.J. INT'L L. 375 (1997)

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