The apartheid government won office narrowly in 1948 despite decolonization sweeping Africa

Evidence

At a time when other African colonial societies were encountering the first shock waves of decolonization, white South Africans voted in a government which promised to contain the threat of black militancy, heighten the physical, social, and cultural distance between races, and preserve the principle of racial purity. In 1948, the National Party’s margin of victory was slight; indeed, it was only in 1961 that the party secured a majority of election votes. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 552 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Apartheid’s founding government won only a slim 1948 electoral margin — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 552; Decolonization produced many new independent Arab states between 1948 and 1967. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 906

Broader Connections

• Apartheid’s founding government won only a slim 1948 electoral margin #expands (0.96) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 552