Traditional Polities Research Articles

Between cooperation and conflict: tracing the variance in relations of traditional governance institutions and the state in Sub-Saharan Africa

The relationship between the state and traditional governance institutions (TGI) in contemporary politics has recently received increased scholarly attention. Traditional leaders play important roles in elections, public goods provision or conflict resolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. We analyse under what conditions cooperation or conflict emerge between the state and TGI. We contribute to the understanding of state-traditional relations by studying how governments interact simultaneously with varying TGI of different ethnic groups. We compare state-TGI relations for eight traditional polities in Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda, based on extensive fieldwork and interviews with state and traditional authorities, experts and constituents. We study three factors shaping state relations with different TGI: (1) the significance of TGI – both social and organisational – in each country and ethnic group; (2) the institutional similarity of TGI and state; and (3) the integration of TGI – both legal and political. Our analysis shows TGI with social significance and functional organisations challenge the state more frequently. Constitutional ambiguity fosters conflict between TGI and state. For our cases, relations are less conflictive in countries with more democratic governments. The same governments and TGI often simultaneously engage in cooperative and conflictive relations, highlighting that governments rarely pursue uniform policies with all TGI.

Religion in the public sphere: The Quebec charter of values, a critical reflection

Contemporary challenges on religious belief and practice occur often within democratic polities; they do appear as advocates for equality before law, state neutrality and for freedom of conscience. Such claims perceived as demands for equal justice mark the public sphere of the West thanks especially to an expanding consciousness of individual rights and increasing religious cultural diversity, a phenomenon due also to immigration. These are obvious signs of the Western society becoming more and more pluralistic, but in a way distinct from such traditional polities elsewhere. Whatever the advantages of a pluralist society, it is also seen as a potential threat to entrenched values. How would then a democratic regime deal with multiculturalism and religious freedom, guaranteeing social coherence and security, becomes a crucial contemporary issue. Employing the Quebec Charter of Values as a case in point, this essay highlights the importance of re-defining the public sphere. It has to be a discursive sphere which would only materialize when rationality and emotions play an equal role, in shaping the social body, especially through narratives. And religions do seem to have an important role to play here, not only in shaping a strong, open self-identity, but also in recognizing the common, human vulnerability.

The Dualism of Contemporary Traditional Governance and the State

In many parts of the world, people live in “dual polities”: they are governed by the state and organize collective decision making within their ethnic community according to traditional rules. We examine the substantial body of works on the traditional–state dualism, focusing on the internal organization of traditional polities, their interaction with the state, and the political consequences of the dualism. We find the descriptions of the internal organization of traditional polities scattered and lacking comparative perspective. The literature on the interaction provides a good starting point for theorizing the strategic role of traditional leaders as intermediaries, but large potentials for inference remain underexploited. Studies on the consequences of “dual polities” for democracy, conflict, and development are promising in their explanatory endeavor, but they do not yet allow for robust conclusions. We therefore propose an institutionalist research agenda addressing the need for theory and for systematic data collection and explanatory approaches.

A World Connecting: 1870–1945 ed. by Emily S. Rosenberg (review)

Every age rediscovers the past in its own light. Since the end of the cold war, we have become obsessed with globalization. It is not surprising, then, that a book about world history from 1870 to 1945 would stress that period�s global interconnectedness and modernity instead of the great power rivalries, world wars, depression, and totalitarianism that occupy most other books. To achieve this goal, the editor, Emily Rosenberg, has chosen five authors to write essays on different aspects of the period, each one almost book length. For the reader familiar with the chronology of important events such as wars, revolutions, and technological innovations, these essays complete the picture presented in more traditional world histories. For those without that level of knowledge, however, they will seem disjointed and confusing. In �Leviathan 2.0: Inventing Modern Statehood,� Charles Maier discusses the emergence of modern statehood in an analytic and not always coherent manner. Needless to say, this process was wrenching for traditional polities under pressure from the commercial and military might of the Western powers and their new political ideologies. Despite occasional tangents to China, Japan, and Latin America, the essay�s perspective is very Western-centric.

Egalitarianism in the Face of Hierarchy

Research into egalitarianism and hierarchy continues to be important in understanding political and economic processes in all societies. These terms are relative, rather than absolute, categories and depend on cultural meanings as well as social action. The people of Sapwuahfik Atoll (Federated States of Micronesia) assert an ethos of egalitarianism while also valuing a traditional rank hierarchy adopted from neighboring Pohnpei Island. This paper describes how Sapwuahfik handles challenges to its egalitarian ethos and how public activities, especially feasts, maintain that ethos while acknowledging the legitimacy of the regional rank system. Sapwuahfik thus matches traditional polities with its powerful neighbor while protecting plausible egalitarianism within the community. The cultural linking of rank symbolism with community identity and the public management of status claims combine to make issues of rank a contested and fruitful domain of ideology and social action.

The Re-integration and Rehabilitation of Migrant Workers into a Local Domestic Economy: Lessons for "Endogenous" Development

This paper examines the nature, extent and long-term consequences when a local community re-integrates and rehabilitates migrant workers back into the domestic economy. Specifically, it focuses on how a Ghanaian community relying on aspects of its cultural resource base responded to socioeconomic stress caused by the sudden influx of its citizens who had emigrated to Nigeria in search of wage employment and improved standards of living. The author discusses the contemporary adaptation of the returnees, pointing to the degree of intra-village stratification that resulted from their agricultural successes. The author also highlights the extent of social responsibility that exists among community members. It is argued that indigenous knowledge and cultural attributes of rural peoples such as community bonding, self-help, mutual aid, social responsibility, and the organizational capabilities of traditional polities need to be re-examined for their contributions to an endogenous strategy of development.

Understanding Ethnic Realities among the Grebo and Kru Peoples of West Africa

Opening ParagraphThis paper deals with certain implications of our ‘conventional understandings’ of the Kru and Grebo peoples of the Cape Palmas region of coastal West Africa. These ‘traditional’ scholarly understandings of ‘traditional’ political organization, when combined with misfocused questions about the nature of ethnicity, effectively preclude accurate knowledge not only of traditional polities but also of how a people's ethnic identity may be redefined with changing circumstances. Subjecting traditional perspectives as well as ethnographic data to re-examination may clarify the complex role of ethnicity among the Kru and Grebo.