A brief study of african political system: a case of state societies

Abstract

In this paper, author shall be trying to look into the attributes of the tribes reflecting the characteristics of the state societies discussed in the book ‘African Political Systems’ by Fortes and Pritchard. There are five tribes that reflect the attributes of states societies, they are- the Zulu, the Ngwato, the Bemba, the Banyankole, and the Kede. Thus, in these tribes, we shall discuss in detail how there was presence of centralized authority, administrative machinery, and judicial institutions unlike in case of stateless societies that existed simultaneously in African political system that lacked centralized authority, administrative authority, and judicial institutions. Author will discuss only two detailed examples of the tribes regarded as the state societies; they are the- the Bemba and the Kede. The rationale behind choosing these two tribes were that Bemba as a tribe is slightly different from the other tribes as it reflects the characteristics of homogeneity of population unlike the other tribes of Group A. While, Kede, is a tribe that nearly represents a model of the state so it is important to discuss its characteristics in detail because these same characteristics of the Kede can be implied to the modern state societies also. It is an essential academic work which is book review oriented comparative analysis. It can be consider as a contribution to the existing knowledge of African study.