ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the cooperative side of the political equation. It explores patterns of cooperation, other than the chieftaincy system, which emerged among leaders when a political community began to form. The chapter turns from an examination of the unifying forces in Mushin's early years as a district, to an examination of the external forces which threatened to destroy the machine, and to civil disturbances which broke out in response. It explains that neighbourhoods were politically important because a following could be amassed from the client relationships that developed through residential proximity and because neighbourhoods were the basic units. The chapter aims to show how people used them to strengthen and expand their leadership positions and by so doing, to bring the various parts of Mushin into a solidified system of authority. The decade of Mushin as a political community was marked by two opposing patterns: continuity in local leadership and change in the balance of power.
