Mediating Legitimacy
Chieftaincy and Democratisation in Two African Chiefdoms
1st Edition
Published on 23. February 2009
140 pages
978-9956-716-00-5 (ISBN)
Description
This study analyses the effects of democratic transition in two African countries - Cameroon and South Africa - on chiefs and the institution of chieftainship. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the monograph explores the cultural and socio-political conditions that enabled chiefs to reinvent themselves in the new era of democratic politics despite their status as 'old political actors'. It explores the kinds of legitimacies claimed by chiefs in the new era and the responses of their subjects to such claims, particularly with respect to chiefs' involvement in national politics. The monograph makes a case for the importance of comparative research on chiefs in the era of democracy and the predicaments they face therein. It contends that contrary to exhortations about the incompatibility of chiefs and democracy, the reality is that political transition in both South Africa and Cameroon produced contradictions, creating space and a role for chiefs in a fascinating and negotiated interplay of legitimacies and history.
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01/2009
Langaa RPCID
€46.00
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Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Prologue
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter One - Chieftaincy in contemporary perspective
- Introduction
- Areas of Study
- Chiefs and Democracy: Strange bedfellows?
- Research Method
- Organisation of Book
- Chapter Two - Rivalry, resistance and liberation politics in Venda
- Introduction
- A Political History of the Venda
- Chiefs, Government and Politics in Venda (1913 - 1994)
- Chiefs and Liberation Politics in Venda
- Conclusion
- Chapter Three - Chiefs, local government and social change in post-apartheid Tshivhase
- Introduction
- Chiefs and Policy Framework in Postcolonial South Africa
- Chief Tshivhase and Democratic Change
- Traditional Leaders and Civics in the Democratic Era
- Chief Tshihvhase and Public Opinion
- Chieftaincy and Development in Tshivhase
- Conclusion
- Chapter Four - Historical patterns on change and continuity in traditional leadership in Bali
- Introduction
- A Political History of Bali Nyonga
- Galega II in the Post-independence Era (1961-1985)
- Fon Ganyonga and the Democratic Transition in 1990
- Conclusion
- Chapter Five - Democratic transition and chiefdompolitics in Bali
- Introduction
- Democratic Transition and Local Politics in Bali
- Ganyonga and Chiefs' Politics in the Democratic Era
- Ganyonga and the Anglophone Problem
- Ganyonga and Public Opinion
- Conclusion
- Chapter Six - Chieftaincy and democracy in comparative perspective
- Tshivhase and Bali Compared in the Democratic Era
- Implications for Democratic Transition and the State
- Conclusion
- Appendix One - Genealogy of Tshivhase Chiefs
- Appendix Two - Structure of Traditional Government in Tshivhase
- Appendix Three - Genealogy of Bali-Nyonga Chiefs
- Appendix Four - Structure of Traditional Government in Bali-Nyonga
- End Notes
- References
- Newspapers
- Web sites consulted
- Back Cover
