ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to generalize about tribal political systems. These would seem to offer us the sharpest possible contrast with own political forms and, hence, to provide us with a useful cross-cultural perspective on the uses of power in human society. Tribal politics operate within the context of kinship relationships, and generally are not formally differentiated by the people themselves from other kinds of activity. Political anthropology, like all of anthropology, is broadly comparative in its approach, and a major problem "is that of making certain that the phenomena being compared are close enough in form, structure, or process to warrant the comparison". Some of the finest anthropological studies on tribal societies have dealt with the question of the relationship between economic factors and the political system. The public field of politics and administration is defined by corporate structures. However diverse their constitution, such structures are universally present in the societies of man.
