South Africa: The Union Years, 1910–1948 – Political and Economic Foundations

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521869836.007

5 - South Africa: The Union Years, 1910–1948 – Political and Economic Foundations

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2011

Edited by

Anne Kelk Mager and

Bill Freund: Affiliation:
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Robert Ross: Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
Anne Kelk Mager: Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Bill Nasson: Affiliation:
University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

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Summary

Introduction

The Union of South Africa came into being with the opening of Parliament in November 1910, following a lengthy period of negotiation between the four self-governing British colonies in southern Africa. The Union closely resembled an independent country, and it would evolve, as would the other British dominions, further in that direction. This chapter considers that what ensued after 1910 was an attempt, an attempt that ultimately failed, to establish a hegemonic order in South Africa. By hegemony, what is meant is not merely dominance, not merely state control, but pervasive and internalised dominance that flows through nationally based and structured institutions and civil society. In other words, the goal was the construction of a society based on shared assumptions and mediated conflicts contained in a legal and political order that could endure.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of South Africa , pp. 211 - 253

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521869836.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

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5 - South Africa: The Union Years, 1910–1948 – Political and Economic Foundations

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