ABSTRACT
Coercion of a non-violent kind is integral to the indigenous process of dispute settlement among the Arusha. It is a moral and sociological kind:—appeals to past precedents, and to custom established by the ancestors; appeals to right behaviour, and especially right behaviour to close associates (near agnates, age-mates); threats of disapproval and ostracism, and promises of approval, fellowship and cordiality; threats to curtail rights and privileges, and offers to maintain or even increase them; appeals, both emotional and practical, to the cause of group unity. Examples of these have been given in the preceding chapters. Such coercion is aimed not only at the disputant himself, but also against his supporters who can influence him. It may be directed, too, by a man towards his own associates with the intention of stimulating their support and loyalty. The whole pattern of discussion and negotiation, both in public assembly and in conclave, is permeated by pressures and counter-pressures, with the object of persuasion and constraint, in which reference to the commonly accepted norms of right behaviour is but one factor. Ideally, but very often in practice, the dispute is resolved by an eventual, mutually accepted settlement, to which either side concurs because it is felt to be the most advantageous one that can be obtained with an expectation of its proper fulfilment in the circumstances.
