Törzsfőnökök a nemzetközi politikában
Traditional Authorities in Development Policy

Summary/Abstract: By 2012, it has become clear that in most of Africa, democratization, instead of clearing the path towards the end of history through indigenous social evolution, has produced central authorities that are merely captured and continuously contested by the narrow political and economic elite. Despite of the measures aiming at political modernization during the last fi fty years, high proportion of citizens in rural areas – that in most of the countries amounts up to 50-60 percent of the population – remained subject of traditional leadership. Thus, the system of traditional chieftaincy not only survived in face of offi cial governments, but increasingly thrived as discontents of parliamentary democracy became evident. Since traditional authorities aff ect governmental performance in terms of contested legitimacy, their role has become crucial to the continent’s developmental trajectories. The potentially anti-democratic practices of traditional leaders should be considered when drafting future development policies in the African countries. In this essay, I attempt to fi nd analytical frameworks that could enable African governments to benefi t from traditional political practices. I will test my fi ndings by analysing the role of the „dead capital” theory in hybrid political regimes.

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