Overcoming apartheid: can truth reconcile a divided nation?

Abstract

Throughout the world, truth commissions have been (and are being) constructed under the hope that discovering the ‘truth’ about a country's past conflicts will somehow contribute to ‘reconciliation’. Most of such efforts point to South Africa's truth and reconciliation process as an exemplar of the powerful influence of truth finding. But has truth actually contributed to reconciliation in South Africa? At present, no‐one can answer this question since no rigorous and systematic assessment of the success of the truth and reconciliation process has ever been conducted. This paper directly investigates the hypothesis that truth leads to reconciliation. Based on a survey of 3,700 South Africans in 2001, it begins by giving both ‘truth’ and ‘reconciliation’ clear conceptual and operational meaning. Empirical evidence, is then given, that the ‘truth’ as promulgated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is fairly widely accepted by South Africans, of all races; that at least some degree of reconciliation characterizes South Africa today; and that the collective memory produced by the process (‘truth’) did indeed contribute to reconciliation. I conclude by considering whether the South African case is unique or whether other divided countries might be able to use a similar process to propel themselves toward a more peaceful and democratic future