Psychological Contributions From South Africa
Abstract
<p>The articles brought together in this volume are based on material presented at the Fourth International Symposium on the Contributions of Psychology to Peace held in Cape Town during 1995. At the time of the Symposium, the new democratic order in South Africa had been in place for a year, and the atmosphere was still pregnant with a mixture of elation and relief. South Africa’s rescue from a possible future of hatred and violent chaos has often been described as a miracle. However, this notion masks the extraordinary mix of forces that carried the country to the point of negotiations and liberation from apartheid.</p> <p>Several of these forces originated in changes occurring outside the African continent, as political alignments affecting the Southern African conflict shifted following the changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. South Africa’s continued occupation of Namibia and destabilisation of Angola and Mozambique was becoming economically unsustainable, while Eastern Block support for the frontline states and the South African liberation movements was declining. This meant the removal of much of the material support for armed resistance, and further reduced the always doubtful probability of the success of an insurgent struggle. In addition, the South