^{page 657 note 1} Roth, Guenther, ‘Personal Rulership, Patrimonialism, and Empire-Building in the New States’, in World Politics (Princeton), xx, 2, 01 1968, pp. 194–206.Google Scholar

^{page 657 note 2} Ibid. pp. 195–6.

^{page 657 note 3} See Weber, Max, ‘Gerontocracy, Patriarchalism and Patrimonial Authority’, in Parson's, Talcott edition of The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (New York, 1947).Google Scholar

^{page 658 note 1} Cf. Mair, Lucy, African Kingdoms (London, 1979), pp. 106–20.Google Scholar

^{page 658 note 2} The term was suggested to me by Professor Ronald McDonald of Syracuse University.

^{page 658 note 3} This view is not shared by all scholars. Maquet, Jacques argues in Africanity: the cultural unity of black Africa (New York, 1972), p. 83,Google Scholar that the king or chief ‘need not account for his stewardship to anybody, common people or notables’. For the more common view that he is bound by both constitutional and pragmatic restraints, see Lloyd, Peter, ‘The Political Structure of African Kingdoms’, in Banton, Michael (ed.), Political Systems and the Distribution of Power (New York, 1965), pp.63–112.Google Scholar

^{page 658 note 4} Cf. Middleton, John and Tait, David (eds.), Tribes Without Rulers: studies in African segmentary systems (London, 1958).Google Scholar

^{page 659 note 1} Weber distinguishes between charismatic rule that was mainly dependent on the special, perceived characteristics of a particular ruler or leader, and that which had become routinised – that is, in which the charismatic elements were attached to the office or position itself and did not depend on the personality of the incumbent. I call the former ‘free-floating’, to suggest the absence, or relative absence, of rituals and/or institutions that would depersonalise charisma.

^{page 660 note 1} Rattray, R. S., Ashanti Law and Constitution (Oxford, 1929).Google Scholar

^{page 660 note 2} See, for example, Gluckman, Max, Custom and Conflict in Africa (Oxford, 1959), especially ch. 11, ‘The Frailty in Authority’, pp. 27–53.Google Scholar

^{page 661 note 1} Feit, Edward, ‘Military Coups and Political Development: some lessons from Ghana and Nigeria’, in World Politics, XX, 2, 1968, pp. 179–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 661 note 2} See Tignor, Robert, ‘Colonial Chiefs in Chiefless Societies’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), IX, 3, 10 1971, pp. 339–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 662 note 1} ‘The Resurrection of the Warrior Tradition in African Political Culture from Shaka to Amin the Kakwa’, in Mazrui, Ali A., Soldiers and Kinsmen in Uganda: the making of a military ethnocracy (Beverly Hills and London, 1975), pp. 195–214.Google Scholar

^{page 662 note 2} Robert, Price, ‘Politics and Culture in Contemporary Ghana: the big-man small-boy syndrome’, in Journal of African Studies (Los Angeles), 1, 2, 1974, pp. 172–204.Google Scholar

^{page 662 note 3} Lemarchand, René and Legg, Keith, ‘Political Clientelism and Development’, in Comparative Politics (New York), IV, 2, 1972, pp. 149–78.Google Scholar

^{page 662 note 4} Le Vine, Victor T., Political Corruption: the Ghana case (Stanford, 1975).Google Scholar

^{page 664 note 1} The vital rôle of the traditional rulers in Northern Nigerian politics is well-described in Whitaker, C. S. Jr, The Politics of Tradition: continuity and change in Northern Nigeria, 1946–1966 (Princeton, 1970).Google Scholar

^{page 664 note 2} See, in particular, Behrman, Lucy C., Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal (Cambridge, Mass., 1970).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 664 note 3} Busia, Kofi A., The Position of the Chief in the Modern Political System of Ashanti (London, 1958), especially pp. 196–217.Google Scholar

^{page 665 note 1} See, in particular, Arnett, Edward J., The Rise of the Sokoto Fulani (Kano, 1922).Google Scholar

^{page 667 note 1} Roth, op.cit. p. 195.

^{page 667 note 2} Maquet, Jacques, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda (London, 1961).Google Scholar

^{page 667 note 3} Melady, Thomas Patrick, Burundi: the tragic years (Maryknoll, N.Y., 1974)Google Scholar, provides an eyewitness account of these events. See also René Lemarchand, , ‘Ethnic Genocide’, in Issue: quarterly journal of opinion (Waltham, Mass.), V, 2, 1975, pp. 9–16.Google Scholar

^{page 667 note 4} See Kuper, Hilda, Sobhuza II, Ngwenyama and King of Swaziland (New York, 1978).Google Scholar

^{page 668 note 1} Mazuri, op. cit. and E. V. Walter, Terror and Resistance (New York, 1969), especially pp. 109–243.

^{page 668 note 2} For a recent, authoritative account of the régime, see Klinteberg, Robert af, Equatorial Guinea-Maçias Country (Geneva, 1978).Google Scholar

^{page 669 note 1} Cf. Rivière, Claude, Guinea: the mobilization of a people (Ithaca, 1977).Google Scholar

^{page 669 note 2} I owe the term ‘Marxoid’ to Nicholas Demerath, who uses it to describe the distorted, garbled, and cliché-ridden Marxism professed by those whose claim on the doctrine has little to do with intellectual activity.

^{page 670 note 1} There is currently no authoritative account of Bokassa's court, but journalists and other visitors to the Central African Empire all appeared to agree that the former Emperor granted all titles, made all official appointments, and decided everything of any consequence.

^{page 671 note 1} I did not intend to argue here that collegial rulership is a guarantee against the rise of patrimonial power; Soviet rulers have almost always emerged because they were able to use the mechanisms of collegial rule to gather supporters, clients, and, ultimately, power, to themselves. My point is that a ruling group determined to prevent such an event can do so readily within the structures of a collegial executive.

^{page 672 note 1} Only a handful of peaceful successions come to mind: Daniel arap Moi after Jomo Kenyatta, William Tolbert after William Tubman, and Omar Bongo after the death of Leon Mba in Gabon, plus several regular changes in vice-presidencies and prime ministerships. The problem is discussed in my ‘Leadership Transition in Black Africa: elite generations and political succession’, in Munger Africana Library Notes (Pasadena), 1975, p. 30.Google Scholar