tRaditional authoRity, loCal GoVERnmEnt & JustiCE 197seen continued or increased centralized control over local government,
and councils have at best enjoyed deconcentrated rather than devolved
powers. Crucially, government resources rarely reach the province/
state level, and certainly never go below it. But on the other hand, local
government institutions have provided arenas, like the councils, through
which more people can engage with the state and the cultures of bureau-
cratic, representative government, which has created both a sense of
participation and of frustration. It is no coincidence that the leaders of
the earliest southern political parties had mostly been low-level admin-
istrative officers under the British, who found their ambitions frustrated
by the appointment of northern officers to the higher positions. Local
councils have also helped to form and cement the local political elites
that have been so powerful within local society. Conflicts and political
strategies have, however, generated greater attempts than ever before to
harness or replace those local elites since the 1990s.Divide and Rule?Opinion – whether Sudanese or international – remains divided on
the desirability and legitimacy of Native Administration or traditional
authority. Some point to the resilience of traditional leaders as indicative
of their fundamental legitimacy, and view them as defenders of cultural
particularity against a centralizing, autocratic state, and as providers of
restorative justice and communal harmony. Critics claim instead that
the system of Native Administration provides only for privilege and
abuse, that it is undemocratic, exclusionary and regressive, and/or that
it has been corrupted beyond redemption by the political manipulation
of recent years.
This variance in opinion is shaped by individual position, age and
stance, but also by the particular area of Sudan being discussed. On the
whole, younger, urbanized and educated Sudanese are more likely to
criticize the failings of Native Administration, with its widespread associ-
ation with heredity and gerontocracy. But there is also immense variationThe Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors across Sudan and among the traditional leaders themselves. Some have
(www.riftvalley.net).