There exists in the modern worlda form of non-Christianised religious thought which develops the basic ideas of indigenous African religion beyond their beginnings, and is represented in authorssuch as Kamalu, Osabutey-Aguedze, etc. The spheres of interest in such authors fiJay be analysed in terms of the following areas: Intervening ideological conditions bearing on African life (particularr; theological and cosmological ideas): The historical background of African life; The roots of African life, as manifested in its traditions, and tts ethical and cultural heritage; Means for the innovative development of African life, found in African concepts of knowledge, mysticism and magic; The perceived destiny of African life. The thesis concludes with an indication of areas of agreement and debate in post-traditional African thought, of problems faced by such thought; and of other possible priorities for future study. / Religious Studies & Arabic / D.Th. (Religious Studies)

No description available.

There exists in the modern worlda form of non-Christianised religious thought which develops the basic ideas of indigenous African religion beyond their beginnings, and is represented in authorssuch as Kamalu, Osabutey-Aguedze, etc. The spheres of interest in such authors fiJay be analysed in terms of the following areas: Intervening ideological conditions bearing on African life (particularr; theological and cosmological ideas): The historical background of African life; The roots of African life, as manifested in its traditions, and tts ethical and cultural heritage; Means for the innovative development of African life, found in African concepts of knowledge, mysticism and magic; The perceived destiny of African life. The thesis concludes with an indication of areas of agreement and debate in post-traditional African thought, of problems faced by such thought; and of other possible priorities for future study. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Th. (Religious Studies)

No description available.

Environmental and green politics came into prominance during the last two decades. These two concepts, as well as environmentalism and ecologism are defined in this study and placed within the context of the political system. The emphasis is on green politics and ecologism. The global green movement is analysed according to policy, organisational structures and pattern of development. The South African environmental and green movements are described in the latter part of the study. It is shown that South Africa has a long history of environmentalism. The South African green movement is compared with the global green movement after which it is placed within the context of the South African political system. Green politics in South Africa seems to resemble the early stages of the development of the European movement and the concept of social justice is emphasised. Selected Western Cape groups are discussed according to information gathered by means of a questionnaire. / Political Science / M.A. (Political Science)

The emergence of regional security organisations during the 1990s in Africa proved to be of great significance for the lives of many Africans, including those living in conflict-torn countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but, at the same time, this phenomenon has been understudied. This dissertation explores why regional security organisations with an agenda of democratic governance emerged in Africa in the 1990s. This question is answered with two in-depth case studies on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Driven by an empirical puzzle, this study is both hypothesis-testing and hypothesis generating. The study starts by laying out the different possible factors put forward by several bodies of theory in international relations to explain the emergence of ECOWAS and SADC as security organisations. These hypotheses are then tested throughout the history and the evolution of ECOWAS and SADC in order to highlight the circumstances of their creation and their qualified failure as economic communities. This is followed by a comparative analysis of the security and democracy mandates entrusted to ECOWAS and SADC by its member states based on the study of the legal texts that outline the specific objectives of each regional security organisation and the tools they were given to implement their mandates. The study finally analyses the implementation records of ECOWAS and SADC in order to assess the commitment of their member states to their new democracy and security mandate. The research concludes with the two following hypotheses: 1) A security agenda cannot emerge without the involvement of the regional hegemon. 2) What the regional hegemon can do, including affecting the speed of the transformation, is constrained by the acceptance of its leadership by its neighbours (legitimacy) and by state weakness (capability).

Environmental and green politics came into prominance during the last two decades. These two concepts, as well as environmentalism and ecologism are defined in this study and placed within the context of the political system. The emphasis is on green politics and ecologism. The global green movement is analysed according to policy, organisational structures and pattern of development. The South African environmental and green movements are described in the latter part of the study. It is shown that South Africa has a long history of environmentalism. The South African green movement is compared with the global green movement after which it is placed within the context of the South African political system. Green politics in South Africa seems to resemble the early stages of the development of the European movement and the concept of social justice is emphasised. Selected Western Cape groups are discussed according to information gathered by means of a questionnaire. / Political Science / M.A. (Political Science)

Afrikanische Staaten werden oft mit einem ideal-typischen westeuropäischen Nationalstaat verglichen und unweigerlich für unzureichend befunden. Diese Arbeit begegnet diesem theoretischen Missstand, indem sie eine neue Typologie des territorialen afrikanischen Nationalstaats in Abgrenzung vom europäischen Model entwickelt. Die Typologie fungiert als theoretisches Prisma für eine ausführliche Analyse des Südsudan für die Jahre 2005-2014. Gleichzeitig liefert der Vergleich mit dem Sonderfall Südsudan neue Erkenntnisse zum Wandel von Staat und Nation in Afrika. Ausgehend von einer historisch-philosophischen Querschau auf Staat und Nation in Europa, werden die grundverschiedenen Umstände von Nationalstaatsbildung im postkolonialen Afrika dargestellt. Der Autor schöpft aus einer umfangreichen Literatur, die fast sämtliche Staaten in Sub-Sahara Afrika abdeckt, um typisierte Aspekte von Staat und Nation herauszuarbeiten. Für den afrikanischen Staat sind dies der hybride Quasi-Staat, der illegitime Staat, der privatisierte neopatrimoniale Staat und der aufgedunsene Zentralstaat. Die Typologie der afrikanischen Nation besteht aus inklusivem Staatsnationalismus, dem Wiedererstarken politischer Ethnizität sowie dem ausgrenzenden neuen Nationalismus. Auf der Basis von Primär- und Sekundärquellen sowie Feldforschung, haben sich südsudanesischer Staat und Nation als überwiegend kongruent mit der Typologie erwiesen. Abweichungen bestehen jedoch im Ausmaß der Übernahme von Dienstleistungen durch ausländische NGOs, in der Struktur der neopatrimonialen Netzwerke sowie in der Rolle, die Sprache für die nationale Identität spielt. Zudem weist der Südsudan sämtliche Entwicklungstrends des postkolonialen Nationalismus parallel zueinander und nicht aufeinander folgend auf. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass sich die Bedingungen für Nationenbildung im heutigen Afrika dank Urbanisierung, moderner Kommunikationswege und dem Vorherrschen von Bürgerkriegen sehr von der Vergangenheit unterscheiden. / African states are often judged by comparison to an ideal-typical Western European nation-state, which inevitably finds the African state wanting. This thesis challenges this theoretical drawback by developing a novel typology of the African territorial nation-state in juxtaposition to the European model. The typology is then applied as a theoretical prism for an in-depth analysis of the case of South Sudan, the world’s newest state, for the period 2005-2014. At the same time, comparison to the anomalous case of South Sudan provides new insights into the changing nature of statehood and nationalism in Africa. Starting out from a historical-philosophical overview of state and nation in the European context, the very different circumstances of nation-state formation in postcolonial Africa are depicted. The author then draws on a large body of literature covering almost all of Sub-Saharan Africa to distil typified facets of state and nation. For the African state, these components are the hybrid quasi state, the illegitimate state, the privatized neopatrimonial state and the swollen centralized state. The typology of the African nation consists of inclusive state-nationalism, the resurgence of political ethnicity and exclusionary new nationalism and the politics of autochthony. Based on primary and secondary sources including fieldwork in South Sudan, the empirical reality of South Sudan’s nascent nation-state is shown to largely match the typology. Important divergences exist however in the degree of service delivery by foreign NGOs, in the dispersed nature of the neopatrimonial networks, and the role of language in nationbuilding. Crucially, South Sudan exhibits all three trends of postcolonial African nationalism at the same time rather than in successive periods. This indicates that in contemporary Africa rapid urbanization, modern communications and the prevalence of civil wars create very different conditions for nationbuilding than in decades past.

The 1961 general election has not received much publicity over the years possibly because it was overshadowed by the referendum of the previous year. It was regarded at the time as being a comparatively unexciting election with a predictable result and it did not produce any really great change in the number of seats held by the National Party (NP). Most of what excitement was engendered by the election lay in the conflict between the United Party (UP) and the Progressive Party (PP). There has also been comparatively little written about this election. Stultz and Butler wrote one short article on the 1961 election and Kenneth Heard also wrote a chapter about it in his study of South African general elections between 1943 and 197C. In his memoirs entitled My Lewe in die Politiek, Ben Schoeman devoted very little space to the 1961 general election, and much of what appeared on pages 281 and 282 dealt with Japie Basson and the performance of the National Union Party (NUP) as well as the way that English-speaking whites seemed to have accepted the idea of the republic. In his memoirs, Sir de Villiers Graaff devoted only two short paragraphs on page 185 to this election in which he mentioned the difficulties attached to fighting an elect on on two fronts against both the NP and the PP while simultaneously facing the reality of having lost much of the support of the English press. Sir de Villiers also discussed the way that the UP regained all but one of their seats lost to the Progressives in 1959. Memoirs and biographies of PP politicians give a much more comprehensive account of the 1961 general election, possibly because it was the first general election ever fought by that party as a separate political entity and also because it represented such a major political reversal. Ray Swart's Progressive Odyssey, Jeremy Lawrence's Harry Lawrence, and Helen Suzman's autobiography, In no uncertain terms, all provide interesting accounts of the 1961 general election although the account in Suzman's autobiography does not pay much attention to the Progressive campaign outside her own constituency of Houghton. Joanna Strangwayes-Booth's biography of Helen Suzman also provides very useful information on the formation and the early years of the PP. Dr FA Mouton's thesis on Margaret Ballinger is also very interesting and useful, and gives a lucid description of the dissension within the ranks of the Liberal Party. Terry Wilks's comparatively short biography of Douglas Mitchell describes Mitchell's frequent clashes with members of his own party. Some readers may, however, regard this biography as being rather skimpy on details and too flattering towards Mitchell at times. Catherine Taylor's autobiography, If courage goes, gives little detail on the 1961 general election. Unfortunately Nationalist politicians do not seem to be as prolific in writing their autobiographies as do opposition politicians. particularly Ben Schoeman's memoirs are interesting reading, as they describe the antipathy felt towards Dr Verwoerd by many Nationalist politicians in the early years of his premiership. DS Prinsloo's biography of PW Botha naturally focuses more on the years of his premiership and does not provide much new information on the NP during the period 1958 to 1961. Dirk and Johanna de Villiers' biography of Paul Sauer gives a very interesting account of the strained relationship between Sauer and Verwoerd. There are several useful publications on the history of the various parties, including Brian Hackland's thesis on the earlier years of the PP, and an Afrikaans study Die Verenigde Party Die Groot Eksperiment, edited by Barnard and Marais. This latter work is very informative on the dissension that was endemic within the UP for much of its existence. Also very useful were Dan O'Meara's Forty Lost Years and the book edited by R Schrire, Leadership in the Apartheid State. This dissertation has a threefold purpose. Its primary objective is to determine and describe the course, background and significance of the 1961 general election. Its second purpose is to analyse the relative position of the political parties in the years leading up to the 1961 general election. Thirdly it quantifies statistically some of the assumptions made about South African politics over the years e.g. the effect of delimitation on the successes or defeats of the National and the United Parties, the effect of the distribution of the support enjoyed by the UP on the fortunes of that party, the strength of the NP during various critical elections and the relationship between percentage turn-out of voters and support received by the UP and the PP. In many respects the 1961 general election was not as important for the NP as was the 1958 general election. The reason for this assertion is firstly that the gains made by the NP in 1961 were not nearly as significant or extensive as those made in 1958. Furthermore the 1958 general election was most probably one of the most decisive general elections contested by the NP as it was in this election that its position became virtually impregnable. The UP's hopes of ever being returned to office suffered a blow that can be seen as final and irreversible. However, the 1961 general election was important in that it was probably the first general election in which the NP could realistically be described as enjoying the support of more than half the white electorate. Despite the optimistic claims made by some sections of the Nationalist press after the results of the 1958 general election had been announced, the NP probably did not command the support of half the white electorate in 1958 although it came rather close to doing so. In addition the themes of the two elections do differ slightly in that in 1961 the Nationalists made a much more concerted effort to capture the votes of as many English-speaking whites as possible. Certain themes are prominent in any study of South African politics of this period. One of them is how the UP's numerical strength in parliament failed to reflect the full extent of its support among the electorate. This was to be a perennial source of discontent among UP supporters. In this dissertation certain statistical comparisons have been drawn with other general elections such as the influence of delimitation on the performance of certain parties and the percentage swings required to unseat the NP in some general elections. These comparisons provide a very interesting perspective on the growth and decline of various parties over nearly two decades. Another theme is how certain marginal seats made the position of the NP a trifle insecure in the early years of its rule and how this situation was remedied by the general election of 1958. Also interesting is the dilermna in which the UP found itself for much of its post-1948 history whether to adopt a more liberal approach or to attempt instead to fight the Nationalists on behalf of its traditionally conservative supporters who party loyalties. What was might have been also of great wavering interest in their was the relationship between the English-language press and the leadership of the UP. It was particularly striking how many editors appeared to dislike Douglas Mitchell intensely and how even in 1961 some editors already seemed disenchanted with the leadership of Sir de Villiers Graaff. It should be remembered that the voters in South West Africa were represented by six members of parliament. Their constituencies were, however, determined by a separate delimitation commission. This dissertation naturally pays much more attention to the 150 seats in which white voters in the Republic of South Africa cast their votes. The coloureds in the Cape Province were represented by three members of parliament, who were not elected on the same day as their 156 fellow parliamentarians representing white voters in South Africa and South West Africa. In researching this dissertation I have found the newspapers of the period to be invaluable as well as certain periodical publications such as Round Table, African Digest, and Forum. Much useful material has also been found in the archival collections of Harry Lawrence, Oscar Wollheirn, Sydney Waterson, and Colin Eglin in the University of Cape Town Library as well as the collection of Dr Eben Donges in the provincial archives in Cape Town. Useful and interesting information was also gleaned from the various United Party collections in the UNISA library. The Progressive Party collections and the Liberal Party papers in the William Cullen library at the University of the Witwatersrand were also well worth consulting, as was the Liberal Party Collection in the Alan Paton Centre at the University of Natal. Most archival information concerning the National Party during this period came from the various collections at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of the Orange Free State. My thanks are due to the staff of all these archival repositories for their assistance and to my two supervisors, Professor JCH Grabler and Mrs BM Theron, for their guidance. Some readers might regard general elections as being a trivial or inconsequential topic of study, particularly as some people might regard white politics or parliamentary politics as being somewhat irrelevant in the light of contemporary historical events. Nevertheless general elections are a very interesting and fruitful field of research as they provide fascinating revelations on the attitudes held at various times by certain political parties as well as the white population of the time. Thus, even though while not nearly as momentous as, for example, the 1948 general election, the 1961 general election was an interesting contest. In the late 1950s, Professor GHL le May of the University of the Witwatersrand regarded the state of election analysis in South Africa as "abysmal", but hopefully this situation is in the process of being remedied. politicians. particularly Ben Schoernan'::; memoirs are interesting reading, as they describe the antipathy felt towards Dr Verwoerd by many Nationalist politicians in the early years of his premiership. DS Prinsloo's biography of PW Botha naturally focuses more on the years of his premiership and does not provide much new information on the NP during the period 1958 to 1961. Dirk and Johanna de Villiers' biography of Paul Sauer gives a very Page (iii) interesting account of the strained relationship between Sauer and Verwoerd. There are several useful publications on the history of the various parties, including Brian Hackland's thesis on the earlier years of the PP, and an Afrikaans study Die Verenigde Party Die Groot Eksperiment, edited by Barnard and Marais. This latter work is very informative on the dissension that was endemic within the UP for much of its existence. Also very useful were Dan O'Meara's Forty Lost Years and the book edited by R Schrire, Leadership in the Apartheid State. This dissertation has a threefold purpose. Its primary objective is to determine and describe the course, background and significance of the 1961 general election. Its second purpose is to analyse the relative positcon of the political parties in the years leading up to the 1961 general election. Thirdly it quantifies statistically some of the assumptions made about South African politics over the years e.g. the effect of delimitat on on the successes or defeats of the National and the United Parties, the effect of the distribution of the support enjoyed by the UP on the fortunes of that party, the strength of the NP during various critical elections and the relationship between percentage turn-out of voters and support received by the UP and the PP. In many respects the 1961 general election was not as important for the N? as was the 1958 general election. The reason for this assertion is firstly that the gains made by the NP in 1961 were not nearly as significant or extensive as those made in 1958. Furthermore the 1958 general election was Page (iv) most probably one of the most decisive general elections contested by the NP as it was in this election that its position became virtually impregnable. The UP's hopes of ever being returned to office suf ered a blow that can be seen as final and irreversible. However, the 1961 general election was important in that ic was probably the first general election in which the NP could realistically be described as enjoying the support of more than half the white electorate. Despite the optimistic clains made by soma sections of the Nationalist press after the results of the 1958 general election had been announced, the NP probably did not command the support of half the white electorate in 1958 although it came rather close to doing so. In addition the themes of the two elections do differ slightly in that in 1961 the Nationalists made a much more concerted effort to capture the votes of as many English-speaking whites as possible. Certain themes are prominent in any study of South African politics of this period. Ono of them is how the UP's nQmerical strength in parliament failed to reflect the full extent of its support among the electorate. This was to be a perennial source of discontent among UP supporters. In this dissertation certain statistical comparisons have been drawn with other general elections such as the influence of delimitation on the performance of certain parties and the percentage swings required to unseat the NP in some general elections. These comparisons provide a very interesting perspective on the growth and decline of various parties over nearly two decades. Another theme is how certain marginal seats made the position of the NP a trifle insecure in the early years of its rule and how this situation was remedied by Page (v) the general election of 1958. Also interesting is the dilemma in which the UP found itself for much of its pcst-1948 history whether to to fight adopt a more liberal approach or to attempt instead the Nationalists on behalf of its traditionally conservative supporters who might have been wavering in their party loyalties. What was also of great interest was the relationship between the English-language press and the leadership of the UP. :t was particularly striking how many editors appeared to dislike Douglas Mitchell intensely and how even in 1961 some editors already seemed disenchanted with the leadership of Sir de Villiers Graaff. It should be remembered that the voters in South West Africa were represented by six rr rnbers of parliament. Their constituencies were, however, determined by a separate delimitation commission. This dissertation naturally pays much more attention to the 150 seats in which white voters in the Republic of South Africa cast their votes. The coloureds in the Cape Province were represented by three members of parliament, who were not elected on the same day as their 156 fellow parliamentarians representing white voters in South Africa and South West Africa. In researching this dissertation I have found the newspapers of the period to be invaluable as well as certain periodical publications such as Round Table, African Digest, and Forum. Much useful material has also been found in the archival collections of Harry Lawrence, Oscar Wollheim, Sydney Waterson, and Colin Eglin in the University of Cape Town Library as well as the collection of Dr Eben Donges in the provincial archives in Cape Town. Useful and interesting information was Page (vi) also gleaned from the various United Party collections in the ut<ISA library. The Progressive Party collections and the Liberal Party papers in the Williall', Cullen library at the University of the Witwatersrand were also well worth consulting, as was the Liberal Party Collection in the Alan Paton Centre at the University of Natal. Most archival information concerning the National Party during this period came from the various collections at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of the Orange Free State. My thanks are due to the staff of all these archival repositories for their assistance and to my two supervisors, Professor JCH Grobler and Mrs BM Theron, for their guidance. Some readers might regard general e:ections as being a trivial or inconsequential topic of study, partisularly as some people might regard white politics or parliamentary politics as being somewhat irrelevant in the light of contemporary historical events. Nevertheless general elections are a very interesting and fruitful field of research as they provide fascinating revelations on the attitudes held at various times by certain political parties as well as the white population of the time. Thus, even though while not nearly as momentous as, for example, the 1948 general election, the 1961 general election was an interesting contest. In the late 1950s, Professor GHL le May of the University of the Witwatersrand regarded the state of election analysis in South Africa as "abysmal", but hopefully this situation is in the process of being remedied.' / History / M.A. History

The 1961 general election has not received much publicity over the years possibly because it was overshadowed by the referendum of the previous year. It was regarded at the time as being a comparatively unexciting election with a predictable result and it did not produce any really great change in the number of seats held by the National Party (NP). Most of what excitement was engendered by the election lay in the conflict between the United Party (UP) and the Progressive Party (PP). There has also been comparatively little written about this election. Stultz and Butler wrote one short article on the 1961 election and Kenneth Heard also wrote a chapter about it in his study of South African general elections between 1943 and 197C. In his memoirs entitled My Lewe in die Politiek, Ben Schoeman devoted very little space to the 1961 general election, and much of what appeared on pages 281 and 282 dealt with Japie Basson and the performance of the National Union Party (NUP) as well as the way that English-speaking whites seemed to have accepted the idea of the republic. In his memoirs, Sir de Villiers Graaff devoted only two short paragraphs on page 185 to this election in which he mentioned the difficulties attached to fighting an elect on on two fronts against both the NP and the PP while simultaneously facing the reality of having lost much of the support of the English press. Sir de Villiers also discussed the way that the UP regained all but one of their seats lost to the Progressives in 1959. Memoirs and biographies of PP politicians give a much more comprehensive account of the 1961 general election, possibly because it was the first general election ever fought by that party as a separate political entity and also because it represented such a major political reversal. Ray Swart's Progressive Odyssey, Jeremy Lawrence's Harry Lawrence, and Helen Suzman's autobiography, In no uncertain terms, all provide interesting accounts of the 1961 general election although the account in Suzman's autobiography does not pay much attention to the Progressive campaign outside her own constituency of Houghton. Joanna Strangwayes-Booth's biography of Helen Suzman also provides very useful information on the formation and the early years of the PP. Dr FA Mouton's thesis on Margaret Ballinger is also very interesting and useful, and gives a lucid description of the dissension within the ranks of the Liberal Party. Terry Wilks's comparatively short biography of Douglas Mitchell describes Mitchell's frequent clashes with members of his own party. Some readers may, however, regard this biography as being rather skimpy on details and too flattering towards Mitchell at times. Catherine Taylor's autobiography, If courage goes, gives little detail on the 1961 general election. Unfortunately Nationalist politicians do not seem to be as prolific in writing their autobiographies as do opposition politicians. particularly Ben Schoeman's memoirs are interesting reading, as they describe the antipathy felt towards Dr Verwoerd by many Nationalist politicians in the early years of his premiership. DS Prinsloo's biography of PW Botha naturally focuses more on the years of his premiership and does not provide much new information on the NP during the period 1958 to 1961. Dirk and Johanna de Villiers' biography of Paul Sauer gives a very interesting account of the strained relationship between Sauer and Verwoerd. There are several useful publications on the history of the various parties, including Brian Hackland's thesis on the earlier years of the PP, and an Afrikaans study Die Verenigde Party Die Groot Eksperiment, edited by Barnard and Marais. This latter work is very informative on the dissension that was endemic within the UP for much of its existence. Also very useful were Dan O'Meara's Forty Lost Years and the book edited by R Schrire, Leadership in the Apartheid State. This dissertation has a threefold purpose. Its primary objective is to determine and describe the course, background and significance of the 1961 general election. Its second purpose is to analyse the relative position of the political parties in the years leading up to the 1961 general election. Thirdly it quantifies statistically some of the assumptions made about South African politics over the years e.g. the effect of delimitation on the successes or defeats of the National and the United Parties, the effect of the distribution of the support enjoyed by the UP on the fortunes of that party, the strength of the NP during various critical elections and the relationship between percentage turn-out of voters and support received by the UP and the PP. In many respects the 1961 general election was not as important for the NP as was the 1958 general election. The reason for this assertion is firstly that the gains made by the NP in 1961 were not nearly as significant or extensive as those made in 1958. Furthermore the 1958 general election was most probably one of the most decisive general elections contested by the NP as it was in this election that its position became virtually impregnable. The UP's hopes of ever being returned to office suffered a blow that can be seen as final and irreversible. However, the 1961 general election was important in that it was probably the first general election in which the NP could realistically be described as enjoying the support of more than half the white electorate. Despite the optimistic claims made by some sections of the Nationalist press after the results of the 1958 general election had been announced, the NP probably did not command the support of half the white electorate in 1958 although it came rather close to doing so. In addition the themes of the two elections do differ slightly in that in 1961 the Nationalists made a much more concerted effort to capture the votes of as many English-speaking whites as possible. Certain themes are prominent in any study of South African politics of this period. One of them is how the UP's numerical strength in parliament failed to reflect the full extent of its support among the electorate. This was to be a perennial source of discontent among UP supporters. In this dissertation certain statistical comparisons have been drawn with other general elections such as the influence of delimitation on the performance of certain parties and the percentage swings required to unseat the NP in some general elections. These comparisons provide a very interesting perspective on the growth and decline of various parties over nearly two decades. Another theme is how certain marginal seats made the position of the NP a trifle insecure in the early years of its rule and how this situation was remedied by the general election of 1958. Also interesting is the dilermna in which the UP found itself for much of its post-1948 history whether to adopt a more liberal approach or to attempt instead to fight the Nationalists on behalf of its traditionally conservative supporters who party loyalties. What was might have been also of great wavering interest in their was the relationship between the English-language press and the leadership of the UP. It was particularly striking how many editors appeared to dislike Douglas Mitchell intensely and how even in 1961 some editors already seemed disenchanted with the leadership of Sir de Villiers Graaff. It should be remembered that the voters in South West Africa were represented by six members of parliament. Their constituencies were, however, determined by a separate delimitation commission. This dissertation naturally pays much more attention to the 150 seats in which white voters in the Republic of South Africa cast their votes. The coloureds in the Cape Province were represented by three members of parliament, who were not elected on the same day as their 156 fellow parliamentarians representing white voters in South Africa and South West Africa. In researching this dissertation I have found the newspapers of the period to be invaluable as well as certain periodical publications such as Round Table, African Digest, and Forum. Much useful material has also been found in the archival collections of Harry Lawrence, Oscar Wollheirn, Sydney Waterson, and Colin Eglin in the University of Cape Town Library as well as the collection of Dr Eben Donges in the provincial archives in Cape Town. Useful and interesting information was also gleaned from the various United Party collections in the UNISA library. The Progressive Party collections and the Liberal Party papers in the William Cullen library at the University of the Witwatersrand were also well worth consulting, as was the Liberal Party Collection in the Alan Paton Centre at the University of Natal. Most archival information concerning the National Party during this period came from the various collections at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of the Orange Free State. My thanks are due to the staff of all these archival repositories for their assistance and to my two supervisors, Professor JCH Grabler and Mrs BM Theron, for their guidance. Some readers might regard general elections as being a trivial or inconsequential topic of study, particularly as some people might regard white politics or parliamentary politics as being somewhat irrelevant in the light of contemporary historical events. Nevertheless general elections are a very interesting and fruitful field of research as they provide fascinating revelations on the attitudes held at various times by certain political parties as well as the white population of the time. Thus, even though while not nearly as momentous as, for example, the 1948 general election, the 1961 general election was an interesting contest. In the late 1950s, Professor GHL le May of the University of the Witwatersrand regarded the state of election analysis in South Africa as "abysmal", but hopefully this situation is in the process of being remedied. politicians. particularly Ben Schoernan'::; memoirs are interesting reading, as they describe the antipathy felt towards Dr Verwoerd by many Nationalist politicians in the early years of his premiership. DS Prinsloo's biography of PW Botha naturally focuses more on the years of his premiership and does not provide much new information on the NP during the period 1958 to 1961. Dirk and Johanna de Villiers' biography of Paul Sauer gives a very Page (iii) interesting account of the strained relationship between Sauer and Verwoerd. There are several useful publications on the history of the various parties, including Brian Hackland's thesis on the earlier years of the PP, and an Afrikaans study Die Verenigde Party Die Groot Eksperiment, edited by Barnard and Marais. This latter work is very informative on the dissension that was endemic within the UP for much of its existence. Also very useful were Dan O'Meara's Forty Lost Years and the book edited by R Schrire, Leadership in the Apartheid State. This dissertation has a threefold purpose. Its primary objective is to determine and describe the course, background and significance of the 1961 general election. Its second purpose is to analyse the relative positcon of the political parties in the years leading up to the 1961 general election. Thirdly it quantifies statistically some of the assumptions made about South African politics over the years e.g. the effect of delimitat on on the successes or defeats of the National and the United Parties, the effect of the distribution of the support enjoyed by the UP on the fortunes of that party, the strength of the NP during various critical elections and the relationship between percentage turn-out of voters and support received by the UP and the PP. In many respects the 1961 general election was not as important for the N? as was the 1958 general election. The reason for this assertion is firstly that the gains made by the NP in 1961 were not nearly as significant or extensive as those made in 1958. Furthermore the 1958 general election was Page (iv) most probably one of the most decisive general elections contested by the NP as it was in this election that its position became virtually impregnable. The UP's hopes of ever being returned to office suf ered a blow that can be seen as final and irreversible. However, the 1961 general election was important in that ic was probably the first general election in which the NP could realistically be described as enjoying the support of more than half the white electorate. Despite the optimistic clains made by soma sections of the Nationalist press after the results of the 1958 general election had been announced, the NP probably did not command the support of half the white electorate in 1958 although it came rather close to doing so. In addition the themes of the two elections do differ slightly in that in 1961 the Nationalists made a much more concerted effort to capture the votes of as many English-speaking whites as possible. Certain themes are prominent in any study of South African politics of this period. Ono of them is how the UP's nQmerical strength in parliament failed to reflect the full extent of its support among the electorate. This was to be a perennial source of discontent among UP supporters. In this dissertation certain statistical comparisons have been drawn with other general elections such as the influence of delimitation on the performance of certain parties and the percentage swings required to unseat the NP in some general elections. These comparisons provide a very interesting perspective on the growth and decline of various parties over nearly two decades. Another theme is how certain marginal seats made the position of the NP a trifle insecure in the early years of its rule and how this situation was remedied by Page (v) the general election of 1958. Also interesting is the dilemma in which the UP found itself for much of its pcst-1948 history whether to to fight adopt a more liberal approach or to attempt instead the Nationalists on behalf of its traditionally conservative supporters who might have been wavering in their party loyalties. What was also of great interest was the relationship between the English-language press and the leadership of the UP. :t was particularly striking how many editors appeared to dislike Douglas Mitchell intensely and how even in 1961 some editors already seemed disenchanted with the leadership of Sir de Villiers Graaff. It should be remembered that the voters in South West Africa were represented by six rr rnbers of parliament. Their constituencies were, however, determined by a separate delimitation commission. This dissertation naturally pays much more attention to the 150 seats in which white voters in the Republic of South Africa cast their votes. The coloureds in the Cape Province were represented by three members of parliament, who were not elected on the same day as their 156 fellow parliamentarians representing white voters in South Africa and South West Africa. In researching this dissertation I have found the newspapers of the period to be invaluable as well as certain periodical publications such as Round Table, African Digest, and Forum. Much useful material has also been found in the archival collections of Harry Lawrence, Oscar Wollheim, Sydney Waterson, and Colin Eglin in the University of Cape Town Library as well as the collection of Dr Eben Donges in the provincial archives in Cape Town. Useful and interesting information was Page (vi) also gleaned from the various United Party collections in the ut<ISA library. The Progressive Party collections and the Liberal Party papers in the Williall', Cullen library at the University of the Witwatersrand were also well worth consulting, as was the Liberal Party Collection in the Alan Paton Centre at the University of Natal. Most archival information concerning the National Party during this period came from the various collections at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of the Orange Free State. My thanks are due to the staff of all these archival repositories for their assistance and to my two supervisors, Professor JCH Grobler and Mrs BM Theron, for their guidance. Some readers might regard general e:ections as being a trivial or inconsequential topic of study, partisularly as some people might regard white politics or parliamentary politics as being somewhat irrelevant in the light of contemporary historical events. Nevertheless general elections are a very interesting and fruitful field of research as they provide fascinating revelations on the attitudes held at various times by certain political parties as well as the white population of the time. Thus, even though while not nearly as momentous as, for example, the 1948 general election, the 1961 general election was an interesting contest. In the late 1950s, Professor GHL le May of the University of the Witwatersrand regarded the state of election analysis in South Africa as "abysmal", but hopefully this situation is in the process of being remedied.' / History / M.A. History