Chiefdom in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Watchdog of Domesticated Modern State?
Keywords:
chiefdom, state, authority, power, Africa, indirect ruleAbstract
The article examines general issues of state-chiefdom interaction in sub-Saharan Africa. The starting point is the claim by Peter Skalník (2011: 6) and other anthropologists and political scientists that chiefdom is an “omnipresent organisational principle that coexists with the state” and should play a crucial role in the democratisation process. The theoretical basis of this literature is the understanding of authority and power as distinct phenomena with their own dynamics. In the first part, I deduce a general typology of political units along the dimensions of authority/power and centralisation/decentralisation as implicit in Skalník’s texts. In the second part, I examine the normative side of Skalník’s thesis, which sees the link between chiefdom and the modern state as a solution to long-standing governance problems in this part of the world.
References
Badie, Bertrand. 2000 [1992]. The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Van Binsbergen, Wim. 2003. Introduction: The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law in Africa and Beyond: Theoretical Perspectives on Chiefs, the State, Agency, Customary Law, and Violence. In The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law: Essays on Africa and Beyond, in Honour of Emile Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, edited by Wim van Binsbergen. Leiden/Münster: African Studies Centre/Lit Verlag: 9–47.
Chabal, Patrick, Feinman, Gary, and Skalník, Petr. 2004. Beyond States and Empires: Chiefdoms and Informal Politics. Social Evolution and History 3(1): 22–40.
Claessen, Henri J. M. 2005. Chiefs and Kings in Polynesia. In Character of Kingship, edited by Declan Quigley. Oxford: Berg: 233–50.
Claessen, Henri J. M. 2011. On Chiefs and Chiefdoms. Social Evolution and History 10(1): 5–26.
Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. 2023. The African (Coastal) States and the European Slave Trade, 17th–18th Centuries. Retrieved May 27, 2024 (https://www.projectmanifest.eu/the-african-coastal-states-and-the-european-slave-trade).
Friedman, Richard B. 1991. Authority. In Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought, edited by David Miller, Janet Coleman, William Connolly, and Alan Ryan. Oxford: Blackwell: 28–31.
Gellner, Ernest. 1998. Language and Solitude: Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Habsburg Dilemma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goodfellow, Tom, and Lindemann, Stefan. 2013. The Clash of Institutions: Traditional Authority, Conflict and the Failure of ‘hybridity’ in Buganda. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 51(1): 3–26.
Goody, Jack. 1971. Technology, Tradition, and the State in Africa. London: Oxford University Press.
Green, Leslie. 1998. Authority. In Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy on CD ROM, version 1.0, edited by Edward Craig. London and New York: Routledge.
Grinin, Leonid E., and Korotayev, Andrey V. 2011. Chiefdoms and Their Analogues: Alternatives of Social Evolution at the Societal Level of Medium Cultural Complexity. Social Evolution and History 10(1): 276–335.
Herbst, Jeffrey. 2000. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
De Heusch, Luc. 2005. Forms of Sacralized Power in Africa. In Character of Kingship, edited by Declan Quigley. Oxford: Berg: 25–37.
Kyed, Helene Maria, and Buur, Lars. 2007. Introduction: Traditional Authority and Democratization in Africa. In State Recognition and Democratisation in Sub-Saharan Africa : A New Dawn for Traditional Authorities?, Palgrave Studies in Governance, Security, and Development, edited by Lars Buur and Helene Maria Kyed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan: 1–28.
Logan, Carolyn. 2009. Selected Chiefs, Elected Councillors and Hybrid Democrats: Popular Perspectives on the Co-Existence of Democracy and Traditional Authority. The Journal of Modern African Studies 47(01): 101–28.
Logan, Carolyn. 2013. The Roots of Resilience: Exploring Popular Support for African Traditional Authorities. African Affairs 112(448): 353–76.
Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
Middleton, John, and Tait, David eds. 1958. Tribes without Rulers: Studies in African Segmentary Systems. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Nwokeji, G. Ugo. 2011. Slavery in Non-Islamic West Africa, 1420–1820. In The Cambridge World History of Slavery. Volume 3: AD 1420–AD 1804, edited by David Eltis and Stanley L. Engerman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 81–110. Doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521840682.006.
Nyamnjoh, Francis B. n. d. 2004. Our Traditions Are Modern, Our Modernities Traditional: Chieftaincy and Democracy in Contemporary Africa. Retrieved September 22, 2014 (http://www.nyamnjoh.com/files/chieftaincy_and_democracy_in_contemporary_africa.pdf).
Paine, Clare. 2014. Ker Kwaro Acholi: A Re-invention of Traditional Authority in Northern Uganda. MPhil thesis, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth.
Philp, Mark. 2004. Authority. In The Social Science Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper. London: Routledge: 51–55.
Popitz, Heinrich. 2017 [1992]. Phenomena of Power: Authority, Domination, and Violence. New York: Columbia University Press.
Posner, Daniel N. 2005. Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Quigley, Declan. 2005. Introduction: The Character of Kingship. In Character of kingship, edited by Declan Quigley. Oxford: Berg: 1–23.
Reid, Richard J. 2009. A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Ribot, Jesse C. 2002. African Decentralisation: Local Actors, Powers and Accountability. UNRISD Programme on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights. Paper number 8. Retrieved August 26, 2012 (http://kms1.isn.ethz.ch).
Van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, E. Adriaan B. 1996. States and Chiefs: Are Chiefs Mere Puppets? Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 28(37-38): 39–78.
Scruton, Roger. 2007. The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought. 3rd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scubla, Lucien. 2005. Sacred King, Sacrificial Victim, Surrogate Victim or Frazer, Hocart, Girard. In Character of Kingship, edited by Declan Quigley. Oxford: Berg: 39–62.
Skalník, Petr. 1996. Authority Versus Power: Democracy in Africa Must Include Original African Institutions. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 28(37–38): 109–21.
Skalník, Petr. 1999. Authority versus Power: A View from Social Anthropology. In The Anthropology of Power: Empowerment and Disempowerment in Changing Structures, edited by Angela Cheater. London: Routledge: 163–174.
Skalník, Petr. 2002. Chiefdoms and Kingdoms in Africa: Why They Are Neither States nor Empires. Retrieved July 24, 2012 (www.ascleiden.nl/pdf/chiefdomsandkingdoms.pdf).
Skalník, Petr. 2004. Chiefdom: A Universal Political Formation? Focaal - European Journal of Anthropology 43: 76–98.
Skalník, Petr. 2006. Politická antropologie a současná Afrika aneb jak mohou náčelnictví přispět k rozvoji demokracie? [Political anthropology and contemporary Africa or how can chieftaincy contribute to democracy development?]. In III. Kongres českých politologů, Olomouc 8.-10.9.2006, edited by J Němec and M Šůstková. Praha, Olomouc: Česká společnost pro politické vědy: 495–506.
Skalník, Petr. 2011. Politika a antropologie: úvod do politické anthropologie [Politics and anthropology: an introduction to political anthropology]. In Úvod do studia politiky [Introduction to the study of politics], edited by Miroslav Novák and al. Praha: SLON: 153–72.
Von Trotha, Trutz. 1996. From Administrative to Civil Chieftaincy: Some Problems and Prospects of African Chieftaincy. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 28 (37–38): 79–107.
Ubink, Janine. 2008. Traditional Authorities in Africa: Resurgence in an Era of Democratisation. Leiden: Leiden University Press. Retrieved July 23, 2012 (https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/21168).
Williams, J. Michael. 2009. Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy: Political Legitimacy in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University
