ABSTRACT
Within the context of varying degrees of authoritarian rule in Africa, the emergence of a number of personal dictatorships stands out. Politics with social repression used as a method of retaining power in the context of declining legitimacy and societal scarcity. Only the inherent pluralism and inertia of traditional African society, and the relative weakness of central structures and bureaucracies, have prevented the imposition in most states of more repressive authoritarian rule. The authoritarian proclivities of many contemporary African leaders may reinforce the tradition of authoritarian rule inherited from colonialism, which in itself was superimposed on an indigenous concept of the functional indivisibility of power and authority in traditional African society. In Africa specifically, the image of omnipotence projected by the rhetoric of militant leaders frequently conflicts with the reality of weak hierarchies of social control that militates against the establishment of meaningful social, economic, and political control.
