Abstract
M.A. (Political Studies)
The Afrikaner had a gradual development as a "value-oriented society"
and "siege culture" on the Cape eastern frontier from the eighteenth
century onwards. Eventually they developed into a nation with its own
features, values and philosophy of life. In times of crisis these values
were emphasised and became the centre around which "the nation" was
united. The Afrikaner can be seen as a "value-oriented society" and the
values were represented by the National Party (NP) as leading political
party for a long time. The Afrikaner felt culturally threatened and by
1948 this lead to a "siege culture". The NP took part in the 1948
general election and came into power with "apartheid" as policy or
ideology and was therefore a "closed belief system".
The split in the NP (and therefore in Afrikaner nationalism) lead to the
forming of the Conservative Party (CP) in 1982. The purpose of this
dissertation is to show that the CP, similar to the NP, developed from a
"value-oriented movement" into a "siege culture segment" and eventually
into a "closed belief system". To achieve this goal the following
aspects were investigated : Factors which caused the split in the NP,
the founding of the CP and its role in South African politics. The
emphasis, however, is on the CP's participation and performance in the
general election of 1987.
In the late seventies and early eighties the governing NP moved away
from its ideology of "apartheid" and initiated a process of integration.
Through this the NP necessarily deserted a significant part of the
Afrikaner nation politically and economically. Given unfavourable
economical and political conditions, this segment of the Afrikaner felt
threatened by extreme black nationalism, the so-called liberalism of the
NP and various external factors. The CP was founded with traditional
Afrikaner values such as religion, language and purity of race as basis
and developed from a "value-oriented movement" into a "siege culture
segment" due to the factors mentioned. The CP presented an ideology of
partition for its first participation in a general election (that of
1987). Partition as "closed belief system" became the slogan of the CP
in the 1987 general election.
Since its foundation, the CP tried to take over the Afrikaner symbols
which were originally articulated and represented by the NP. The CP only
partially succeeded in this, since the Afrikaner is politically divided
between the NP and the CP. The NP and CP both try to secure the overall
survival of the Afrikaner by integration and partition respectively.
This political disunity among Afrikaners was evident from the results of
the 1987 general election.