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This study examines the transfer of power in South Africa, focusing on the interactions of leadership policies, strategies, and personal characteristics of F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. The revolution that these men have helped bring about through democratic and peaceful means goes beyond simply the calling of a people to a higher mission or the emancipation of a polity from an authoritarian and discriminatory regime. Rather they have accomplished the rare feat of bringing about systemic revolution through peaceful means.l Working within the existing system, the two leaders have reordered the basic frame of government and begun fundamental changes in social institutions, the distribution of public wealth and services, and the way South Africans relate to each other at work and play.
Our inquiry centers on the interactions between the two leaders during this first phase of their relationship, which extends roughly from February 1990 to the 1994 presidential election. This period encompasses de Klerk's dismantling of the apartheid laws and his struggles to reform the existing political order. Mandela, meanwhile, was faced with the daunting task of transforming the African National Congress (ANC) from a loose collection of groups allied against apartheid into a viable and unified political entity. During this time, de Klerk and Mandela shared the overarching goal of constructing a transitional constitution and arranging the first truly representative elections in South African history. We will only touch on the second phase of their relationship, which begins with Mandela's election as president of the new South Africa, insofar as it contributes to the development of themes apparent in this earlier period. Though their formal roles were essentially reversed by the election-Mandela became president, de Klerk deputy president of the coalition government and leader of the main opposition party-many of the broader problems within the South African polity remained. An effort to describe and suggest the most important possible causal interactions within a complex whole, the approach is necessarily one that Alexander George has called "pattern tracing" (see Figure One). As part of a broader comparative case study, certain generalizations are suggested that should have broader implications for leadership theory more generally.2
Contrary to some earlier work, this inquiry suggests charismatic elements are apt to characterize the relationship of transformational leaders...