Professor Arthur Abraham, Department of History and Philosophy, Virginia State University, USA

“The subject of chieftaincy has gained new currency because of all the wave of democratisation and the need for more appropriate local governance models. It was previously thought that the institution would not survive the advance of modernity and would become irrelevant. The opposite is what has happened. This refreshing comparative study of Cameroon and South Africa shows both the resurgence of interest in chieftaincy and the complexity of each situation.”