THEPOLITICALTRANSITION
Although de Klerk and his colleagues endorsed the Declaration of In-
tent, they aimed to protect the interests of the white population by setting
up constitutional obstacles to prevent white domination from being fol-
lowed by black domination. Whereas in the past the National party had
used "itsparliamentary majority to steamroll racist laws through parlia-
ment, now, facing the prospect that the ANC would become the majority
party, it sought to curb it. Drawing on the work of Arend Lijphart, an
American political scientist, the National party contended that political
power in the new South Africa should be shared. Leaders of the two or
three most successful parties should take turns as president. The cabinet
should include members of those parties, and cabinet and parliamentary
decisions should require the support of two-thirds or more of their total
memberships. "Thebill of rights should protect racial and ethnic groups as
well as individuals. Power should also be divided between the central and
provincial governments, and the entire constitution should be extremely
difficult to am.end. De Klerk seems to have believed that, with the re-
sources of the state behind him, he and his colleagues would be able to in-