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Cell Leaders in Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Jean F. O'Barr
Jean F. O'Barr*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Extract

Tanzania has been experimenting with numerous changes in its political administration since it gained independence in 1961 (see Dryden 1968, Tordoff 1967). One of these changes is the introduction of the cell system in 1965 (Bienen 1967). This paper focuses on the people elected as cell leaders, who they are and what they do, and on the way in which the behavior of the present incumbents shapes the role of cell leader. Data were collected during an eighteen-month period in 1967-1968 as part of a comparative study of micropolitics in Pare District. While the findings apply specifically to cell leaders in two wards of Pare District, they have general implications for the cell system throughout Tanzania.

The paper proceeds as follows. The first section explains the place of cells in Tanzania's political system, introduces the two communities under scrutiny and gives a profile of the cell-leader sample. The next three sections discuss in detail the following set of propositions about the activities of cell leaders: (1) Although cell leaders actively participate in many aspects of local politics, many incumbents are not innovative in fulfilling their envisioned role. (2) Cell leaders are most effective when dealing with issues which can be resolved within the cell. When they interact with the larger political infrastructure, cell leaders tend to transmit information downward from the hierarchy more effectively than they represent their constituents to other levels.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , December 1972 , pp. 437 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1972

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References

REFERENCES CITED

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