ABSTRACT
This chapter is directed toward understanding the dialectical processes involved in the contact between pastoral nomadic tribes and state-organised societies. In recent discussions in anthropology and history, the existence of socio-political units is sometimes explained in terms of external and more powerful forces. This is a welcome change of perspective from previous holistic and functionalist orientations, but it is incomplete. Knowing what the external powers are and how they impinge on pastoral nomadic populations does not adequately explain why some populations develop hierarchical political institutions and form confederacies while others do not. It does not explain why, among tribes under the rule of a single state, confederacies emerge in one area and not another, nor why the life spans of different confederacies within a state do not coincide. Knowing the nature of the external stimulus does not explain how political hierarchies emerge, nor can it predict where the core leadership will emerge. Finally, it does not explain the relative effectiveness of tribal leaders and their confederacies.
