ABSTRACT
My intention in this chapter is to familiarise the reader with the specific circumstances of the region, drawing on primary as well as secondary sources pertaining to them. The method of analytical narratives (Bates et al. 1998) which I have chosen for this purpose provides a storyline to gather events, people and places into a continuous and cohesive account of a general phenomenon – in this case, regional governance. It sets the political context of governance in the region, drawing on culture, the economy and history, and thus constituting a backdrop to the statistical analysis of quantitative and qualitative indicators. The historical sequence of regional state formation is itself an important part of regional governance. The narrative locates the founding myth of the region in the historical chronology of its evolution, identifying the movement or the leadership that took the first decisive step towards its founding. If the region had a pre-independence administrative existence, then the structure of its governance before independence and the legacy that the administrative core carried on to its post-independence form, the main administrative changes, transformation of the social base of the power, and legislative and constitutional innovations with an implication for governance are also included.
