Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 September 2018
Both reason and passion combine in making policy. When he considers his means, a strong man may threaten, take acts of reprisal, break relations and attack. A weak man may beg and cajole, appeal to sentiments, ask friends to mediate and eventually accept less than he wanted. But passion can make the weak man act as if he were strong, or the justice of his cause may lead him to feel that only a strong line is right. That, by and large, is what has happened over apartheid in South Africa. Since the 1950's, speech has followed speech, resolution followed resolution and threat followed threat. Indeed, there was too often an escalation of rhetoric that left action far behind.