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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Chief by the People: Nation versus State in Lesotho
Authors:Coplan, David B.ISNI
Quinlan, TimISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:67
Issue:1
Pages:27-60
Language:English
Geographic term:Lesotho
Subjects:Sotho
political systems
democracy
Politics and Government
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1161269
Abstract:This article argues that the particular disjunctions in Lesotho between government and State, on the one hand, and ethnicity and nation, on the other, pose problems for the general process of democratic transformation in State structures on the subcontinent. It further argues that the sovereign State may not be the most ideal or beneficial political embodiment of a national identity; and that elections do not, of themselves, provide a context or even a ritual substantiation for democracy. To advance these points, the authors begin with a reflection on the quality of 'Sesotho', the language and culture of the Sotho, as an identity, move to a selective analysis of significant points in the transformation of the chieftaincy in Lesotho, narrate relevant aspects of Lesotho's postindependence political crises, and conclude with a set of projections about the disjunction between the Basotho nation and State and the prospects for nationalism in Lesotho. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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