ABSTRACT
The concept of a structural balance, of a normative order mirrored in and deriving from a set of rules, one of the major obstacles to understanding the internal dynamics of conflict groups and thus to the understanding of the changes taking place in all societies. The possibility that there may be internal forces which bring about change in all societies is ruled out by the systemic model of society. The members of the partiti now rarely change sides, although this often occurred in the generation or so following their establishment, nearly a century ago. Though deprived of the official support of the Church and police, secondary partiti have to some extent been able to match the superior resources of their rivals by strengthening their own internal organisation. The ritualised conflict between established and opposition interests, between those who wield relatively more power and authority, and those over whom they wield it, studied in one village, is general in Malta.
