Book: Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy

A book-length study on old and new understandings of traditional chieftaincy in South Africa: "Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy: Political Legitimacy in Post-Apartheid South Africa", by J. Michael Williams (Indiana University Press, December 2009).

www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=137805

Publisher's description: "As South Africa consolidates its democracy, chieftaincy has remained a controversial and influential institution that has adapted to recent changes. J. Michael Williams examines the chieftaincy and how it has sought to assert its power since the end of apartheid. By taking local-level politics seriously and looking closely at how chiefs negotiate the new political order, Williams takes a position between those who see the chieftaincy as an indigenous democratic form deserving recognition and protection, and those who view it as incompatible with democracy. Williams describes a network of formal and informal accommodations that have influenced the ways state and local authorities interact. By focusing on local perceptions of the chieftaincy and its interactions with the state, Williams reveals an ongoing struggle for democratization at the local and national levels in South Africa."

Contents: 1. Introduction: The Chieftaincy, the State, and the Desire to Dominate; 2. "The Binding Together of the People": The Historical Development of the Chieftaincy and the Principle of Unity; 3. The Making of a Mixed Polity: The Accommodation and Transformation of the Chieftaincy; 4. The Contested Nature of Politics, Democracy, and Rights in Rural South Africa; 5. The Chieftaincy and the Establishment of Local Government: Multiple Boundaries and the Ambiguities of Representation; 6. The Chieftaincy and Development: Expanding the Parameters of Tradition; 7. Legitimacy Lost? The Fall of a Chief and the Survival of a Chieftaincy; 8. Conclusion: The Chieftaincy and the Post-Apartheid State: Authority and Democracy in a Mixed Polity.

J. Michael Williams is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego.