accumulate. Concepts of rent and tenancy were absent from such cultures,
as were the political relationships that accompany them.
Different forms of political organization were encountered. There were
centralized state structures immediately recognizable as such by Europeans:
ancient kingdoms had clearly articulated forms of political authority and
leadership, with state functionaries recruited according to explicit rules; tra-
ditional leaders were surrounded by civil and military officialdom; territorial
divisions were created for purposes of administration, taxation, and the
enforcement of laws. Such structures of government were highly suitable for
the purposes of colonial administration, especially in the context of the prag-
matic approach to managing dependent territories mentioned earlier. Indirect
rule meant using the indigenous political structures for imperial objectives.
There were obvious political advantages in using the legitimacy conferred
upon traditional leaders who were at the same time loyal to, and dependent
on, the colonial administration. The benefits of such indirectly acquired
legitimacy were especially great under circumstances in which this would
otherwise have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.
Exploiting military and commercial superiority was thus made easier.
The colonial powers found it relatively easy to persuade indigenous
rulers to accept this integration of their own traditional systems of decision-
making and adjudication into the colonial state hierarchy. Claimants to the
throne received the support of the colonial authorities in return for their
loyalty and co-operation. Corrupt, incompetent or insubordinate rulers
were easily deposed and there were always more co-operative princes,
chiefs and emirs to replace them (Berman, 1984, p. 184). British officials
became the real power behind the thrones of indigenous rulers, intervening
according to the precise needs of the European presence. Such interventions
had to be greater if there was a need to remove local people from their land
through legislation and other instruments of colonial policy. Elsewhere
there was simply a need to preserve conditions under which cash crops
could be produced by peasant cultivators according to traditional methods
of cultivation. Here indirect rule was a most appropriate form of colonial
administration.
Indigenous political structures were not always so familiar and useful to
colonial government. In the acephalous societies, without formal positions of
permanent leadership, government was organized without separate institu-
tions for making laws, adjudicating in disputes and performing other civil and
military functions on behalf of the community. Far less familiar forms of
authority were used to manage society’s communal affairs, such as age
groups, lineages, clans or elders. What was required was an interpretation of
38 Understanding Third World Politics