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Traditional authority and bargaining for legitimacy in dual legitimacy systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2019

Carol Mershon  and
Olga Shvetsova
Carol Mershon*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, P.O. Box 400787, University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA 22904, USA
Olga Shvetsova*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton NY 13902, USA
*
Email: mershon@virginia.edu
Email: shvetsova@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper investigates the quest for legitimacy conducted by hereditary, traditional leaders in dual legitimacy systems. We theorise that traditional leaders engage in meta-constitutional bargaining, i.e. bargaining among constitutionally and traditionally defined actors within the meta-constitutional space. This process resembles constitutional bargaining in federations over the institutional balance between the members and centre, and among members. We thus propose a parallel between the theory of federal bargaining, on the one hand, and, on the other, the process of institutional balancing between agents in constitutional and traditional authority structures in dual legitimacy systems. Evidence from narratives of institutional balancing between constitutional and traditional authorities in Southern Africa suggests that actors’ strategies in dual legitimacy systems accord with the framework here. The narratives also disclose that both constitutional and traditional authorities rely on the state's courts for adjudication. The paper enriches social science scholarship on traditional authority, political economy and federalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 273 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

We thank Mikhail Filippov, Vhonani Netshandama, George Ofosu and the journal's excellent anonymous reviewers for helpful comments, and Shiran Ren for research assistance.

References

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