Essay on political science

Comparative politics
“Explaining the Case of Democratization”

South Africa’s struggle for freedom and democracy sparked global consciousness as no other. Through the years of violent domestic protesting, economic struggles, cultural sanctions, and the end of the cold war, the racial tyranny of apartheid finally ended in 1994 when Nelson Mendela was elected president in the first ever democratic elections. Though of course, with the considerable amount of personal loss, and the lives of the many men, woman and children who were involved. Apartheid, was the system of segregation executed by the white ruled south Africa’s nationalist party on 1948. Although many of the segregation policies dated back to the early decades of the twentieth century, it was not until the election of the nationalist party in 1948 that really marked the beginning of apartheid and legalized the harshest elements of racism and segregation policies. Inside South Africa, boycotts, protests and riots by the black South Africans against the white nationalist party had occurred ever since the independent white rule in 1910, and it intensified in 1948 when the nationalist party assumed power and and banned any form of political protests by the non whites. Governing parties such as The African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress were outlawed and its leaders were imprisoned. Amongst the many leaders was renounced revolutionary and politician Nelson Mendela. While Mendela and many other political leaders remained imprisoned, many leaders fled the South Africa, set up headquarters in independent African countries, and continued the fight to end apartheid. In the 1980’s, this fight took a drastic turn where it cost the South African state signifiant losses in areas such as security, international reputation, and significant losses in revenue. The brutality of the apartheid regime began to attract the attention of many international communities, after south African policeman shot unarmed non violent black protestors, killing roughly sixty nine and wounding about one hundred and eighty six others. While the United Nations threatened penalty for disobeying the law on South African government, they were also feared de-colonization and losing friends in Africa. Therefore, powerful members of the security council including united States, France and Great Britain succeeded in attenuating the proposals. But by the late 1970’s grassroots movements in Europe and the Unites States pressured their governments into imposing cultural and economic sanctions on Pretoria. After the Unites States congress passed the Anti Apartheid act in 1986, the South African economy was struggling with the effects of the external as well as internal boycotts. Due to the international criticism and internal unrest, great changes began occurring in the beginning of 1989 when prime minister P.W Botha resigned because he had lost the faith of the ruling national party for his failure to bring order to the country. Nelson Mendela walked out of prison after twenty seven years after F W d Klerk (successor of P.W Botha) announced in his opening address to parliament that he was lifting the ban on black liberation parties and and allowed freedom of press. After Prime Minister de Klerk agreed for democratic elections for the country, the United States increased foreign aid and lifted sanctions. In April 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected as South Africa's first black president. Though this is a brief overview of the transition of the South African government from Apartheid regime to democracy, the potential explanatory

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