Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T04:29:56.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explaining Variation in Levels of Public (Dis)trust in Traditional Leaders: Colonial Ruling Strategies and Contemporary Roles in Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2020

Zack Zimbalist Open the ORCID record for Zack Zimbalist [Opens in a new window]
Zack Zimbalist*
Affiliation:
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Querétaro, Mexico, and Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, US
*
*Corresponding author. Email zzimbal1@jhu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Why does public trust in traditional leaders vary dramatically across African countries? This article argues that trust in traditional leaders is higher in cases where: (1) the French colonial authority did not interfere in traditional structures and allowed leaders to operate outside of the colonial apparatus (as opposed to the British practice of augmenting the authority of traditional leaders to extract on behalf of the Crown within the colonial structure); (2) leaders in the post-independence era were not hostile towards traditional leaders; and (3) citizens believe traditional leaders play a positive role in meeting local needs vis-à-vis contemporary elected officials.

Keywords

Africainstitutionstraditional authoritycolonial rulepublic trust
Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , October 2021 , pp. 661 - 682
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2020. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achebe, C (2012) There Was a Country. New York: Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Afigbo, AE (1972) The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria, 1891–1929. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Baldwin, K (2014) When Politicians Cede Control of Resources: Land, Chiefs, and Coalition-Building in Africa. Comparative Politics 46(3), 253–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, K (2015) The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
BBC News (2015) Mogho Naba: Burkina Faso's Mediator Monarch. 23 September, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34340704.Google Scholar
Beall, J, Mkhize, S and Vawda, S (2005) Emergent Democracy and ‘Resurgent’ Tradition: Institutions, Chieftaincy and Transition in KwaZulu-Natal. Journal of Southern African Studies 31(4), 755–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, S (1993) No Condition is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Bierschenk, T and Olivier de Sardan, J-P (2003) Powers in the Village: Rural Benin Between Democratisation and Decentralisation. Africa 73(2), 145–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonoff, N (2016) Traditional Authority in the State: Chiefs, Elections and Taxation in Ghana. PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Boone, C (2003a) Decentralization as Political Strategy in West Africa. Comparative Political Studies 36(4), 355–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boone, C (2003b) Political Topographies of the African State. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, D (2010) Afrobarometer Data Codebook for Round 4 Afrobarometer Surveys in 20 African Countries. East Lansing: Afrobarometer, Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Ceesay, H (2014) Chiefs and Protectorate Administration in Colonial Gambia, 1894–1965. In Jallow, BG (ed.), Leadership in Colonial Africa: Disruption of Traditional Frameworks and Patterns. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 23–54.Google Scholar
Chabal, P (1994) Power in Africa: An Essay in Political Interpretation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chinsinga, B (2006) The Interface between Tradition and Modernity: The Struggle for Political Space at the Local Level in Malawi. Civilisations. Revue internationale d'anthropologie et de sciences humaines 54, 255–274.Google Scholar
Clignet, RP and Foster, PJ (1964) French and British Colonial Education in Africa. Comparative Education Review 8(2), 191–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crouzel, I (1999) La chefferie traditionnelle face à la démocratisation des pouvoirs locaux. Afrique contemporaine 192, 30–39.Google Scholar
Crowder, M (1964) Indirect Rule: French and British Style. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 34(3), 197–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruise O'Brien, DB (1971) The Mourides of Senegal. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cruise O'Brien, DB (1992) Le contrat social sénégalais à l'épreuve. Politique africaine 45, 9–20.Google Scholar
De Kadt, D and Larreguy, H (2018) Agents of the Regime? Traditional Leaders and Electoral Politics in South Africa. Journal of Politics 80(2), 382–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díaz-Cayeros, A, Magaloni, B and Ruiz-Euler, A (2014) Traditional Governance, Citizen Engagement, and Local Public Goods: Evidence from Mexico. World Development 53, 80–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dionne, KY (2012) Local Demand for a Global Intervention: Policy Priorities in the Time of AIDS. World Development 40(12), 2468–2477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dipholo, KB, Tshishonga, N and Mafema, E (2014) Traditional Leadership in Botswana: Opportunities and Challenges for Enhancing Good Governance and Local Development. Journal of African and Asian Local Government Studies 3(2), 17–28.Google Scholar
Dunning, T and Harrison, L (2010) Cross-Cutting Cleavages and Ethnic Voting: An Experimental Study of Cousinage in Mali. American Political Science Review 104(1), 21–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eggen, O (2011) Chiefs and Everyday Governance: Parallel State Organisations in Malawi. Journal of Southern African Studies 37(2), 313–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enders, C and Tofighi, D (2007) Centering Predictor Variables in Cross-Sectional Multilevel Models: A New Look at an Old Issue. Psychological Methods 12(2), 121–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoehne, M (2018) One Country, Two Systems: Hybrid Political Orders and Legal and Political Friction in Somaliland. In Zenker, O and Hoehne, M (eds), The State and the Paradox of Customary Law in Africa. London: Routledge, pp. 184–212.Google Scholar
Holzinger, K, Kern, F and Kromrey, D (2016) The Dualism of Contemporary Traditional Governance and the State: Institutional Setups and Political Consequences. Political Research Quarterly 69(3), 469–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hox, J, Moerbeek, M and van de Schoot, R (2010) Multilevel Analysis: Techniques and Applications. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hussein, MK (2010) Malawi's Traditional Leadership and Democracy Consolidation. Africa Insight 40(3), 92–103.Google Scholar
Iyeh, P (2014) Reconsidering Place of Traditional Institutions under the Nigerian Constitution: A Comparative Analysis. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization 31, 135–148.Google Scholar
Keita, K (1998) Conflict and Conflict Resolutions in the Sahel: The Tuareg Insurgency in Mali. Small Wars and Insurgencies 9(3), 102–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, M (1933) French Colonial Policy – the Decline of ‘Association’. Journal of Modern History 5(2), 208–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koelble, TA and LiPuma, E (2011) Traditional Leaders and the Culture of Governance in South Africa. Governance 24(1), 5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koter, D (2013) King Makers: Local Leaders and Ethnic Politics in Africa. World Politics 65(2), 187–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramon, E (2019) Ethnic Group Institutions and Electoral Clientelism. Party Politics 25(3), 435–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lange, MK (2009) Lineages of Despotism and Development: British Colonialism and State Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, SM (1959) Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy. American Political Science Review 53(1), 69–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X (2016) Applied Ordinal Logistic Regression Using Stata. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Logan, C (2009) Selected Chiefs, Elected Councillors and Hybrid Democrats: Popular Perspectives on the Co-Existence of Democracy and Traditional Authority. Journal of Modern African Studies 47(1), 101–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, C (2013) The Roots of Resilience: Exploring Popular Support for African Traditional Authorities. African Affairs 112(448), 353–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, C (2006) Twilight Institutions: Public Authority and Local Politics in Africa. Development and Change 37(4), 685–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mamdani, M (1996) Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M (1999) Historicizing Power and Responses to Power: Indirect Rule and its Reform. Social Research 66(3), 859–886.Google ScholarPubMed
Manning, P (1982) Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640–1960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muriaas, R (2011) Traditional Institutions and Decentralisation: A Typology of Co-Existence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Forum for Development Studies 38(1), 87–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naseemullah, A and Staniland, P (2016) Indirect Rule and Varieties of Governance. Governance 29(1), 13–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ntsebeza, L (2005) Democracy Compromised: Chiefs and the Politics of the Land in South Africa. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oomen, B. (2005) Chiefs in South Africa: Law, Power and Culture in the Post-Apartheid Era. Oxford: James Currey.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, D (2004) Muslim Societies in African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, A (2014) National versus Ethnic Identification in Africa: Modernization, Colonial Legacy, and the Origins of Territorial Nationalism. World Politics 66(4), 709–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, KC (2005) Role of Traditional Structures in Local Governance for Local Development: The Case of Botswana. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Skinner, E (1958) The Mossi and Traditional Sudanese History. Journal of Negro History 43(2), 121–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sommet, N and Morselli, D (2017) Keep Calm and Learn Multi-Level Logistic Modeling: A Simplified Three-Step Procedure Using Stata, R, Mplus, and SPSS. International Review of Social Psychology 30, 203–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stegmueller, D (2013) How Many Countries for Multilevel Modeling? A Comparison of Frequentist and Bayesian Approaches. American Journal of Political Science 57(3), 748–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tignor, R. (1971) Colonial Chiefs in Chiefless Societies. Journal of Modern African Studies 9(3), 339–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonwe, D and Osemwota, O (2013) Traditional Rulers and Local Government in Nigeria: A Pathway to Resolving the Challenge. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance 13–14, 128–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kessel, I and Oomen, B (1997) ‘One Chief, One Vote’: The Revival of Traditional Authorities in Post-Apartheid South Africa. African Affairs 96(385), 561–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, M (2010) Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy: Political Legitimacy in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar