ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the ways in which the state is locally embedded and socially enmeshed through an analysis of the interactions between the state, non-state actors, and the local population in multiple settings. First, it examines the patterns of local elite interaction in what I called intermediary spaces of governance – the ‘beer houses’ which bring together the agents of two supposedly distinct entities, the state and society, including politicians and party officials, civil servants, customary leaders, businessmen, and traders. This reveals how the outcomes of state practices depend very much on the manner in which they are accepted, reinterpreted, negotiated, and implemented by local elites. Second, it concentrates the relational ambiguity between public and state authorities by exploring how in the local bureaucracy, state work is conducted by people who occupy multiple positions and operate in the twilight between the state and society.
