ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the distinction between power and leadership. Bureaucratic office is no longer a sufficient condition for entrance into the ranks of the power elite, and neither of the contemporary village bureaucrats has taken over the mantle of leadership borne bv the Vel Vidane and the Aracci. The chapter examines the 'positive' aspects as the growth of vigorous party competition in electoral politics and the transformation of the politically-alienated rural masses into a highly politically-conscious electorate. The development of the MP's raj and the MP-centred regional power structure has meant that those individuals who are able, through the MP's support, to manipulate the distribution of specific resources, have risen to prominence as the power elite of local communities. Local communities today are characterized by 'the inability of rural leadership to mobilize power', but rather by the inability of the new power holders to act as leaders.
