Outcome

The eventual outcome of the South African conflict was the establishment of a new government and new constitution in the country, headed for some time by the African National Congress (Von Feigenblatt 2008; Ottoway 1993). This also marked one of the most successful and most peaceful transitions of a post-colonial African government to date, providing a very positive outcome not only for the country of South Africa but for the region as a whole (Von Feigenblatt 2008). New economic standards, policies and frameworks were also established in the country and internationally during this time, with their inclusion in the new South African structure of government a direct result of the conflict and constituting yet another positive outcome of the conflict's eventual resolution (Ottoway 1993).

Winner

Of the two primary players in the conflict -- i.e. The established government and its parties of support o the one hand and the African National Congress and its system of support on the other, the African National Congress and other liberation movements were the clear winners. There was, it should be noted, no small measure of disappointment on the part of many of the smaller liberation movement groups, as the more extreme governmental and social changes were not made (Ottoway 1993). The eradication of apartheid and the establishment of a fair government that was responsive to the black majority in the country was the primary goal of these movements, however, and in this they undoubtedly succeeded.

Conclusion

Though moments and acts of violence certainly existed in the South African conflict over apartheid, which persisted for decades but became especially...

The existence of several different parties in the conflict, each with their own often widely divergent goals and perspectives, led to many complications and a prolonging of the conflict, but these parties were also essential in the formation of the resolution that the conflict eventually led to (Ottoway 1993). Though the conflict was enlarged by some of the external and internal circumstances that led up to the major flare-up in the early 1990s, this enlargement is also what brought the issues at the heart of the conflict to the foreground of political action in the country, thus enabling it to be resolved instead of continuing to fester and stagnate (Ottoway 1993; Von Feigenblatt 2008). Through an escalation of the conflict, that is, an actual solution rather than simply a mitigating of tensions was finally reached between the parties.
Conflict does not always end as neatly as it did in this case, even when it starts off in a seemingly simpler fashion. The analysis of this conflict conducted above demonstrates the possibilities for such peaceful and comprehensive resolutions in real-world situation, however, and this is an important lesson for the world at large to receive and understand.