Reconciliation, reconstruction and identity politics in South Africa: A 1994 survey of elite attitudes after apartheid

Abstract

The transition to South Africa's first democratic constitution was achieved despite the obstacles imposed by a history of conflict between communities with sharply differing identities based on race and/or language. The authoritative explanations thus far, based on qualitative analyses, is that the transition was driven by elites who were able to transcend these historical cleavages. We report on a quantitative data set based on a survey of elite attitudes done just after the founding election of 1994 which confirms this proposition. The findings are that the policy preferences of elites in the immediate post‐apartheid South Africa are more strongly associated with political party identification than with race, language or the perceived importance of culture, history or values.