State Repression And The Apartheid Regime

            Apartheid, literally meaning separateness or setting apart , was the ideology of the South African National Party that made the segregation of and discrimination against non-whites government policy. In this paper I will discuss how two different theories of state repression can be applied to the Apartheid regime in South Africa. I will discuss how High Modernism, a theory constructed by James Scott, and Organic Nationalism, a theory put forth by Michael Mann, contributed to Apartheid ideology. High Modernism rationalized, regulated, structured, and reorganized South Africa into a society that restricted its non-white "citizens," while Organic Nationalism defined the people of South Africa as Afrikaners, validating the exclusion of non-whites from civil existence. .
             Unlike most African colonies, the South African colony became the Union of South African in 1910 and was internally self-governed. A small number of land-owning black Africans were allowed to vote until 1936 when that right was revoked. The white minority strongly resisted African majority rule and during the 1940's the Afrikaner National Party sought to mobilize Afrikaner opinion. The National Party convinced the white population that unless the government could exercise firm control over non-whites in South Africa, black Africans would soon dominate both urban centers and the industrial economy. The white minority, fearing African majority rule, voted the National Party into office in 1948's whites-only general election. .
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             World War II led to increased industrialization in South Africa. This was because importation of European goods was very difficult during the war, and to compensate South Africa began to produce its own consumer goods. This period of increased industrialization created new job opportunities for black Africans, and after the war led to an influx of black Africans in urban centers seeking wage employment.