SOUTH-AFRICA - THE CASE OF A FAILED STATE PARTITION

State partition has been a common occurrence in the 20th century and t here are few examples of deliberate government-controlled partition pl ans which have failed. In South Africa the White minority sought to re tain political power in the face of majority African demands for equal ity, by means of state partition. The South African government attempt ed to create new states for linguistically defined groups within the A frican population, without resolving the problems involved in creating new nations or drawing state boundaries. The lack of legitimacy and t he degree of coercion applied in the policy's enforcement ensured fail ure and the re-establishment of the unitary state.