Settlers and Natives: The Cases of South Africa and Algeria

Abstract

Discomforting though the thought might seem, the most obvious aspect of France’s experience in Africa that appears most relevant to contemporary South Africa is that of Algeria’s transition to independence. However, an important qualification needs to be established from the outset. Comparison is often misunderstood to mean a process of drawing out the similarities between two or more cases. In fact, pointing out the differences can be just as important a part of the process. Further, the function of academic analysis may serve to disabuse people of possibilities stemming from superficial resemblances. For example, Irish Nationalists have frequently suggested that the solution to the problem of Northern Ireland would be the election of a British de Gaulle, that is to say, a leader strong enough and with the right patriotic credentials to cut the Gordian knot by effecting a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, just as President de Gaulle succeeded in bringing about a French withdrawal from Algeria. But as Frank Wright showed in a detailed comparison of the two cases, the analogy breaks down, partly because the Nationalists do not constitute a majority of the population in Northern Ireland as they did in Algeria.¹