African Patrimonial Regimes in Comparative Perspectives

In 1968, Guenther Roth perceptively argued the utility of using the concept of patrimonialism to analyse rulership in developing states. He described two principal types: traditionalism regimes. and personal rulership. These categories are not mutually exclusive but need further amplification if they are to provide much insight into the rich variety of political experimentation that goes throughout the African continent. Since the terminology is self-consciously borrowed from Max Weber, both the traditional and modem matrices of African patrimonialism are explored briefly lest the reference to the Weberian connection constricts rather than enlarges the analysis. Sections: Patriarchy and patrimonialism – Elements of African patrimonialism – Traditional and ‘personalist’ patrimonialisms – Neo-patrimonial rule – Patrimonialism and political stability: exceptions. Notes.