ABSTRACT

This chapter gives a comparative overview of the findings from field research on a small sample of 11 communities in 4 countries. The first phase consisted of key informant interviews and focus group discussions. A key informant (KI) list of 15 people per site was selected through a purposive sampling method. The second phase involved a survey interview of randomly selected sample from each of the 11 communities. The literature generally classifies traditional institutions into centralized authority (chieftaincy) systems and decentralized (acephalous) systems. In some cases, as in Kenya and Somaliland, for instance, the term chief refers to state appointed and salaried administrators at the local level. Such "chiefs" have little in common with traditional leaders. The chieftaincy systems in South Africa and Lesotho are hereditary and chiefs command notable power relative to chiefs in the other cases in the sample. The Leopard Skin Chiefs (Bouk) of the Nuer in southwestern Ethiopia are also hereditary.