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Patrons, Clients, and Factions: New Dimensions of Conflict Analysis in Africa*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Richard Sandbrook
Affiliation:
University of Toronto

Abstract

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Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1972

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References

1 The first quotation is from Zolberg, Aristide, “The Structure of Political Conflict in the New States of Tropical Africa,” American Political Science Review, LXII, no 1 (1968), 70CrossRefGoogle Scholar; the second is the title of an article by O'connell, J. in the Journal of Modern African Studies, V, 2 (1967).Google Scholar

2 See especially Gulliver, P. H., “Introduction,” in Gulliver, , ed., Tradition and Transition in East Africa: Studies of the Tribal Factor in the Modern Era (Los Angeles, 1969)Google Scholar; Legum, Colin, “Tribal Survival in the Modern African Political System,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, V, nos 1–2 (Jan.–April 1970)Google Scholar; Mazrui, A. A., “Violent Contiguity and the Politics of Retribalization in Africa,” Journal of International Affairs, XXIII, no 1 (1969)Google Scholar; and Mercier, Paul, “On the Meaning of Tribalism in Black Africa,” in van Den Berghe, Pierre, ed., Africa: Social Problems of Change and Conflict (San Francisco, 1965).Google Scholar For a more abstract and complex model of ethnic conflict based on the concept of the “plural society,” see the chapters by Kuper, Leo and Smith, M. G. in their edited volume, Pluralism in Africa (Los Angeles, 1969).Google Scholar

3 “Ethnicity and Conflict Resolution,” World Politics, XXII, no 4 (1970), 602.

4 A point made by James C. Scott in the context of Southeast Asia. See his “Patron-Client Politics and Political Change,” paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Los Angeles, Sept. 1970, p. 2.

5 Sklar's, article appeared in Journal of Modern African Studies, V, no 1 (1967), 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Ibid., 6.

7 Ibid., 7.

8 As Marx noted in a discussion of the development of the bourgeoisie during the feudal period, “the separate individuals form a class only in so far as they have to carry on a common battle against another class; otherwise they are on hostile terms with each other as competitors.” Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich, The German Ideology (New York, 1939), 49.Google Scholar For a persuasive analysis of working-class formation on the basis of a common struggle, see Thompston, E. P., The Making of the English Working Class (London, 1964).Google Scholar

9 See Arrighi, Giovanni and Saul, John, “Nationalism and Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Miliband, Ralph and Saville, John, eds., The Socialist Register, 1969 (London, 1969), 169Google Scholar; Chodak, Szymon, “Social Classes in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Africana Bulletin, IV (1966), 45–6Google Scholar; and Nkrumah, Kwame, Class Struggle in Africa (New York, 1970), esp. pp. 1012.Google Scholar

10 “Politics in Kenya: The Development of Peasant Society,” British Journal of Political Science, I, no 3 (1971).

11 The dual position of the peasantry as a class and as a society is illuminated by Shanin, Teodor, “The Peasantry as a Political Factor,” Sociological Review, XIV, no 1 (1966), 610.Google Scholar

12 Powell, John Duncan, “Peasant Society and Clientelist Politics,” American Political Science Review, LXIV (June 1970), 411–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Weingrod's, article appeared in Comparative Studies in Society and History, X (July, 1968).Google Scholar

14 Cf. Wolf, Eric, “Kinship, Friendship and Patron-Client Relationships in Complex Societies,” in Banton, Michael, ed., Social Anthropology of Complex Societies (London, 1966), 16.Google Scholar

15 Weingrod, “Patrons,” 379.

16 See especially Zolberg, A. R., Creating Political Order: The Party-States of West Africa (Chicago, 1966), 122–3Google Scholar, and Bienen, Henry, “One-Party Systems in Africa,” in Huntington, Samuel and Moore, C. H., eds., Authoritarian Politics in Modern Society (New York, 1970), 115.Google Scholar

17 Scott, James C., “Corruption, Machine Politics and Political Change,” American Political Science Review, LXII (Dec. 1969), 1143.Google Scholar

18 I am indebted for this point to Professor Colin Leys.

19 This point will be discussed further below.

20 See, for example, Borkenau, Franz, “Getting at the Facts behind the Soviet Facade,” Commentary, XVII (April 1954), 393400Google Scholar; Linden, Carl A., Khrushchev and the Soviet Leadership, 1957–64 (Baltimore, 1966)Google Scholar; and Ploss, Sidney I., Conflict and Decision-making in Soviet Russia (Princeton, 1965).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Scott, “Patron-Client Politics,” 19.

22 Weingrod, “Patrons,” 382, and Scott, ibid., 19.

23 “The Organization of Patronage in the Changing Scale of Society: A Study of a Developing Region in Temne Country,” unpublished paper, presented at the University of Western Ontario, May 1971, p. 12.

24 For excellent, critical surveys of the anthropological literature on factionalism, see two currently unpublished articles by Bujra, Janet entitled “Factions and Factionalism: A Reappraisal” and “A Comparative Analysis of Factions and Factionalism” (both Nairobi, April 1970).Google Scholar See also Bailey, Fred, Stratagems and Spoils (Oxford, 1969), 51–2Google Scholar; and Nicholas, R. W., “Factions: A Comparative Analysis,” in Banton, Michael, ed., Political Systems and the Distribution of Power (London, 1965), 27–9.Google Scholar

25 See Lasswell, H., “Faction,” Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. Seligman, E. R. A. and Johnson, A. (New York, 1931), 49Google Scholar; Zariski, Raphael, “Party Factions and Comparative Analysis,” Midwest Journal of Political Science, IV (Feb. 1960), 33–6Google Scholar; Johnston, S. D., “A Comparative Analysis of Intra-Party Factionalism in Israel and Japan,” Western Political Quarterly, XXI (June 1967), 291Google Scholar; Key, V. O., Politics, Parties and Pressure Groups, (5th ed., New York, 1964), 291–5Google Scholar; Landé, Carl H., Leaders, Factions and Parties: The Structure of Philippine Politics (Monograph Series no 6, Yale University South-East Asia Studies Program, 1965), 1625Google Scholar; Nyomarkay, Joseph, Charisma and Factionalism in the Nazi Party (Minneapolis, 1967), 35Google Scholar; and Brass, Paul, Factional Politics in an Indian State (Berkeley, 1965), 54–6.Google Scholar

26 A “political arena” is an observable locus of competition for some prize, generally wealth, power, or status. See Bailey, Stratagems and Spoils, 86–110.

27 Bailey, for example, uses “core” in this sense. See ibid., 45.

28 “Factional Politics and Central Control in Mombasa, 1960–1969,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, IV (Winter 1970), 52–3. For similar analyses of the impact of conflicts between national political figures on local factionalism in Murang'a and South Nyanza Districts, Kenya, see Lamb, Geof, “Politics and Administration in Murang'a District, Kenya,” unpublished D PHIL dissertation, University of Sussex, 1970Google Scholar; and Oyugi, W. O., “The Ndhiwa By-Elections,” East Africa Journal, VII (Oct. 1970), esp. pp. 46.Google Scholar

29 Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven and London, 1968), 194.

30 Perlmutter, Amos, “The Praetorian State and the Praetorian Army,” Comparative Politics, I (April 1969), 390.Google Scholar See also Springer, P. B., “Disunity and Disorder: Factional Politics in the Argentine Military,” in Bienen, Henry, ed., The Military Intervenes (New York, 1968), 145–68Google Scholar; and Crowley, J. B., “Japanese Army Factionalism in the Early 1930's,” Journal of Asian Studies, XXI (May 1962), 7291.Google Scholar

31 Lee, , African Armies and Civil Order (London, 1969), 56.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., 72.

33 On the interrelation between political conflict and factionalism within agricultural cooperatives, see, for example, Vincent, Joan, “Local Co-operatives and Parochial Politics in Uganda,” Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies, VIII (March 1970), 317CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Lamb, G. B., “Coffee, Co-operatives and Politics in Murang'a District, Kenya,” unpublished paper, University of Sussex, 1968.Google Scholar The case of trade unions is considered further below.

34 For an extended analysis of this phenomenon, see my article “Patrons, Clients and Unions: The Labour Movement and Political Conflict in Kenya,” Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies, IX (March 1972).

35 The most comprehensive source on recent Kenyan politics is Gertzel, Cherry, The Politics of Independent Kenya, 1963–1968 (London, 1970).Google Scholar

36 Ibid., 61.

37 See, for example, East African Standard, Aug. 20 and 24, 1962.

38 Political Order in Changing Societies, 12–24.

39 Bienen, Henry, Tanzania: Party Transformation and Economic Development, (expanded ed., Princeton, 1970), esp. pp. 449–58.Google Scholar

40 Okumu, John, “Charisma and Politics in Kenya,” East Africa Journal, V (Feb. 1968), 16.Google Scholar See also Good, K., “Kenyatta and the Organization of KANU,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, II (1968), 132.Google Scholar

41 Waterbury, John, The Commander of the Faithful: The Moroccan Political Elite – A Study in Segmented Politics (London, 1970), 149.Google Scholar

42 The terms “presidential-monarch” has been used by David Apter. See his The Politics of Modernization (Chicago, 1965), 307, 410–11. See also Mazrui, A. A., “The Monarchical Tendency in African Political Culture,” British Journal of Sociology, XVIII, no 3 (1967), 231–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43 Leys, Colin, “What Is the Problem about Corruption?Journal of Modern African Studies, III no 2 (1965), 228.Google Scholar

44 See Scott, “Patron-Client Politics,” 23, where he makes some similar points in the context of Southeast Asia; see also Lemarchand's, R. excellent article, “Political Clientelism and Ethnicity: Competing Solidarities in Nation-building,” American Political Science Review, LXVI (March 1972).Google Scholar

45 Scott, “Corruption, Machine Politics and Political Change,” 1146–8.

46 See Davidson, Basil, “The Outlook for Africa,” in Miliband, and Saville, , eds., The Socialist Register, 1966 (New York, 1966), 193219Google Scholar; Andreski, S., “Emergent Classes,” in his The African Predicament (London, 1968)Google Scholar; Gutkind, Peter, “The Poor in Urban Africa,” in Bloomberg, Warner and Schmandt, H. J., eds., Power, Poverty and Urban Policy (New York, 1968), esp. pp. 388–92.Google Scholar

47 Lloyd, P. C., Africa in Social Change (Harmondsworth, 1967), 317.Google Scholar Generalizing about the urban poor in the third world, Joan Nelson argues that they seldom engage in collective political action to better their miserable circumstances. Since “the most urgent needs of the poor are intensely individual,” they often seek relief or assistance by attaching themselves to better-established individuals or organizations. See her “The Urban Poor: Disruption or Political Integration in Third World Cities?” World Politics, XXII, no 3 (1970), esp. p. 406.

48 See Alavi, Hamza, “Peasants and Revolution,” in Miliband, and Saville, , eds., The Socialist Register, 1965 (London, 1965), 274Google Scholar, and Landé, Carl, “Networks and Groups in South-east Asia,” paper presented to the South-east Asia Development Advisory Group, New York, March 1970, p. 36.Google Scholar