The Apartheid system in South Africa is officially accredited to have begun in 1948 however the foundations had been laid down prior to this through colonial rule under the British. Throughout the Second World War there was a relaxing of the racial lines as there could be no distinction between white and African workers at a time when the country was under pressure to fulfil the wartime need for goods and in doing so the factory workforce experienced an increase by 50%. This completely challenged the segregationist policies that had been previously installed within the country. This in turn culminated in increased tension and the development of white fears as the African majority experienced a slight increase in freedom. D.F Malan and his National Party won the 1948 election by playing on these white fears and thereby initiated the period of Apartheid through the systematic use of legislative means. It was at this moment that South Africa took a step back as the World took a step forward in the fight against racism and in doing so created fierce international condemnation. This period extended from 1948 until 1994 and in the end devastated the country and its people. The collapse of Apartheid was brought about for various reasons that include the failing state of the economy, international ostracism as the Apartheid system was condemned for its inhumanity, the ending of the Cold War and the threat of Communism and also simply the inevitable demise of an ideologically flawed system geared at oppressing the majority. It seems clear that the collapse is attributed to by a combination of all of these factors however due to the fact that the system was destined for failure due to its ideological flaws and can be seen as the cause of international ostracism and in turn the economic conditions that hastened the end of the system the most prominent explanation for the collapse of Apartheid is the unsustainable and ideologically flawed system itself.
One cause of the...