Kirsten, Frederik Fouché2026-03-062026-03-062026Frederik Fouché Kirsten (12 May 2025): Interrogating the South African Garrison State (1930s–1940s): Oswald Pirow and Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr, South African Historical Journal, DOI: 10.1080/02582473.2025.2486223.0258-2473 (print)1726-1686 (online)10.1080/02582473.2025.2486223http://hdl.handle.net/2263/108794This article uses a comparative biographical study of Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr and Oswald Pirow as a foundation to interrogate South Africa of the 1930s and 1940s as a garrison state. It examines Harold Lasswell’s concept of the garrison state, a ‘developmental construct’ regarding the future path that democracies could take in their confrontation with fascism and communism in the mid-twentieth century. Hofmeyr and Pirow are representative of two opposites in the political-intellectual debates of the 1930s and 1940s within white society and both can be seen as guarantors of power. Pirow, a renowned fascist, wanted the creation of a Nazi-like state in South Africa. Hofmeyr, in contrast, espoused a liberal vision. This article is located within new scholarship on South African anti-fascism and the garrison state is cast as one counter-intuitive response to fascism.en© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/).Harold LasswellAnti-fascismOswald PirowJan-Hendrik HofmeyrSouth Africa (SA)Developmental constructGarrison stateArticle