The Liberal Slideaway, by Jill Wentzel (used)

South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg South Africa, 1995. Paper Back.

When the ANC and the National Party government committed themselves to negotiating a new constitution in 1990, South Africa was saved the devastation of full-blown revolution. I the 1980s, however, it was by no means certain that this would happen, and South African liberals, whom one would expect to be major proponents of peaceful change, played little direct part in bringing it about. What brought about South Africa's remarkably peaceful transition was the exercise of political compromise within the ranks of both the ANC and the government.

This book studies the attitudes of liberals during the years of political turbulence from the onset of the 'people's war' in 1984. Wentzel shows how liberals, once even-handed in their approach to human rights abuses, slid away from their principles in the 1980s and turned a blind eye to revolutionary excesses.

Using the Black Sash as a model, Wentzel lifts the lid on the liberal debates of the last decade, revealing the steady entrenchment of a homegrown political correctness, and the erosion of the liberal conscience. 

Condition: Good. Cover has minor wear.