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Anarcat OP wrote (edited )

"To reinforce this cultural aversion to leadership roles, Igbo society also imposed such onerous obligations and religious restrictions on titleholders that their power was effectively neutralized or kept in line with notions of ideal leadership. The Dagaaba oral narratives are similarly replete with mythic and metaphorical images of kingship. “Kings and chiefs are often portrayed as unimaginative, unintelligent, lacking common sense, and likely to use brute force" (Yelpaala, Kojo (1983). “Circular Arguments and SelfFulfilling Definitions: `Statelessness’ and the Dagaaba”, History in Africa, 10:349385., p. 357)

It is therefore obvious from the way societies like the Tiv, the central Igbo, and the Dagaaba were organized that they were well aware of the political structure of the centralized systems, but tried to eliminate them as much as possible


"such ethnic societies as the Tiv and Igbo of Nigeria, the Nuer of Sudan, the Somali, and the Bedouin Arabs throughout North Africa..... In general there were no officeholders; only representatives of groups."

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Anarcat OP wrote

Thus, in many acephalous societies, there was a clear separation between power (defined as the ability to influence events in a desired manner and direction) and authority (meaning the acknowledged or recognized right to exercise power). One did not necessarily flow from the other. The colonialists had the most difficulty in dealing with this distinction in stateless societies. They sought leaders with “power” in such societies. Finding none, the colonialists then “created” them. But they lacked authority since they were not part of the kinship group and were treated as external representatives of an alien government. Within the ethnic group they had little legitimacy or authority and what little they had was considered tyrannous by the people under them.

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Anarcat OP wrote

"The Somalis pushed the concept of freedom to its most radical limit. They take orders from no one but their country has been in chaos since 1991. They have not had any effective government since they ousted the late dictator, General Said Barre. To Westerners, the chaos in that country reflects the turbulence in their own traditional society and their inability to establish a democratic order. But nothing could be farther than the truth on both counts. Traditional Somali society is peaceful. It is governed by customary laws, known as xeer, that come very close to natural law."

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