''Baasskap'' () (also spelled ''baaskap''), literally "boss-ship" or "boss-hood", was a political philosophy prevalent during

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

that advocated the social, political and economic domination of South Africa by its minority

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

population generally and by

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch people, Dutch Settler colonialism, settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in Free Burghers in the Dutch Cape Colony, 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. '' ...

in particular. The term is sometimes translated to the

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

as "Chief in Charge" and functioned either as a description or an endorsement of the "owner of slaves" in South Africa.

Proponents

Proponents of ''baasskap'' constituted the largest faction of apartheid ideologues in the National Party and state institutions. They applied

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

in a systematic way to "preserve racial purity" and to ensure that economic and political spheres were dominated by

. However, proponents of ''baasskap'' were not necessarily opposed to black South African participation in the economy if black labour was controlled in a way that preserved economic domination by Afrikaners. Proponents of ''baasskap'' included both J.G. Strydom,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

from 1954 to 1958, and C.R. Swart, Minister of Justice.

Hendrik Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), also known as H. F. Verwoerd, was a Dutch-born South African politician, scholar in applied psychology, philosophy, and sociology, and newspaper editor who was Prime Mini ...

had sympathy for the "purist" faction of apartheid ideologues, who opposed

economic integration Economic integration is the unification of economic policies between different states, through the partial or full abolition of tariff and Non-tariff barriers to trade, non-tariff restrictions on trade. The trade-stimulation effects intended by ...

of black South Africans, in contrast to supporters of ''baasskap'' who wanted white domination but an integrated economy. Nonetheless, Verwoerd provided the theretofore crude concept of ''baasskap'' with a veneer of intellectual respectability.

References

External links

* {{Political history of South Africa Apartheid in South Africa Afrikaans words and phrases South African English Political terminology in South Africa Apartheid in propaganda

Proponents

See also

References

External links