Foreign Relations of South Africa During Apartheid - Initial Relations

Initial Relations

In the after-effects of World War II, the Western world quickly switched from ideas of racial dominance and policies based on racial prejudice. Racially discriminative and segregationist principles were not novelties in South Africa. From unification in 1910, the state had been run by the white minority and pursued segregation. Apartheid was a certified, lawful and inflexible type of separation that was methodically entrenched from 1948 through a battery of legislation. As it was not completely new to the country, and because many Western countries still exercised their own forms of prejudice in their assorted colonies, there was minimal rejoinder and indignation. The conclusion of the Second World War signified the commencement of the Cold War, and South Africa, with its anti-communist stance, was considered a possible assistant in the passive battle against the Soviet Union.

The world did not, however, condone South Africa's discriminatory policies. At the first UN gathering in 1946, South Africa was placed on the program. The primary subject in question was the handling of South African Indians, a great cause of divergence between South Africa and India. In 1952, apartheid was thrashed out again in the aftermath of the Defiance Campaign. The UN set up a task team to keep watch on the progress of apartheid and the racial state of affairs in South Africa. Although racial variance in South Africa was a cause for concern, most countries in the UN concurred that this was one of South Africa's in-house issues, which fell outside the UN's jurisdiction. The UN only became resolute in challenging South Africa later.