“At home we wear cawat, outside we wear a tie”

This chapter starts with an empirical description of the ways in which governmental initiatives have been met with diverse social responses that combine adherence to both customary norms and modern prescriptions. In Timor-Leste, both customary practices and modern forms of legitimacy have constitutional dignity and inform the legal design of local governance units at village level. Recalling Max Weber's famous classification of political legitimacy forms, in Timor-Leste one finds traditional, charismatic and legal-rational forms of political power. A brief discussion of the main positions is required in order to frame the prospects for grass-roots democratic governance in the coming years. The chapter discusses the theoretical implications of the forms of behavior, engaging a debate on the merits of competing notions of "clash of paradigms", "hybridity" and "cohabitations". Different theoretical perspectives have been developed to account for the significance of the historical process.