south africa

James L. Gibson, Ph.D., the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in Arts & Sciences, will receive a 2005 Decade of Behavior Research Award in recognition of his research on democracy issues. The award recognizes high-caliber research that has profoundly influenced the public’s understanding of behavioral and social science principles as well as the use of social and behavioral science knowledge in policy settings.

*Overcoming Apartheid*South Africans celebrate a decade of democracy this month as they observe the 10th anniverary of the April 1994 elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power and ended years of apartheid and white rule. While many expected South Africa’s transition to democracy to be filled with pain and heartbreak, a new book attributes the nation’s remarkable success to it’s steadfast faith in the power of truth to promote national healing and reconciliation. “Without the truth and reconciliation process, the prospects for a reconciled, democratic South Africa would have been greatly diminished,” concludes James L. Gibson, author of “Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile a Divided Nation?”