Van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal. “Chieftaincy In Africa: Three Facets of a Hybrid Role”, In Rouveroy Van Nieuwaal, Emile Adriaan Benvenuto Van, And Rijk Van Dijk, African Chieftaincy in A New Socio-Political Landscape. (1999).

Van Nieuwaal argues that the chief practices a syncretic leadership system where he gains access to economic resources and politico-legal means of power form separate sources. He is assured of access and control from his traditional area such as the allocation of land and dispute settlement whilst he also gets access to power from the state as a subordinate local administrator. This dual basis of power shows mutual dependence between state government and chiefs. Both actors struggle for power among their followers and as they operate within the same territory, this means that they are bound to negotiate. A strategic game of power thus arises from constant negotiations. Van Niewuaal concludes that the relationship between the chief and the modern government is both of mutual dependence and competition as both actors aim at expanding power at the expense of the other. This competition drives both to mutually depend on each other.