White Power & the Rise and Fall of the National Party

In 2006, almost a hundred years after the founding of the National Party, the unthinkable happened: the once mighty party of apartheid collapsed into the African National Congress, its sworn enemy for almost a century.

While a string of blunders saw party support plummeting, such a humiliating end was wholly unexpected. Is it true that the NP’s leaders had betrayed their supporters? What role did the NP play during the negotiations to ensure increased wealth among the black and white South African elite? And is greater material welfare enough to keep Afrikaners satisfied, or are we seeing a resurgence of Afrikaner nationalism? These and other issues are addressed in White Power & the Rise and Fall of the National Party.

Vast in scope and details, this book provides an overview of South African politics and society from 1900 to the present. It covers debates on apartheid abuses, the ‘leaders’ betrayal’ and collaboration with the ANC. It will be of interest to all readers wanting to understand South African politics during the democratic transition, whether they previously supported or opposed the NP.

About the author:

Christi van der Westhuizen, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher, is the head of the Research Programme at CANRAD. She was awarded a Visiting Professorship for ‘outstanding international female scholars’ at Leipzig University, Germany, in 2022.

As transdisciplinary scholar with a Doctorate in Sociology (UCT), Christi is interested in identities, differences, ideologies and discourses, with a focus on colonial, apartheid and postapartheid South Africa. She has published widely, both academically and popularly.

Her scholarly work includes, as co-editor, The D-Word: Perspectives on Democracy in Tumultuous Times (2023) and the Routledge International Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness (2022), and two sole authored books: Sitting Pretty: White Afrikaans Women in Postapartheid South Africa (2017) and White Power & the Rise and Fall of the National Party (2007). She has also published a volume of essays and newspaper columns, titled Working Democracy: Perspectives on SA’s Parliament at 20 Years (2014).