The Royal African Society

Politics as Ritual: Rules as Resources in the Politics of the Liberian Hinterland

Author(s): David Brown
Reviewed work(s):
Source: African Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 325 (Oct., 1982), pp. 479-497
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/722090 .
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 POLITICS AS RITUAL: RULES AS RESOURCES
IN THE POLITICS OF THE LIBERIAN
HINTERLAND

DAVID BROWN

IT IS CHARACTERISTIC
of all but the most extreme forms of totalitarian control that
the dominanceof the state must be establishednot only throughcoercionbut also
through legitimization. For whilst it is possible, as Max Weber noted,' to
envisage such a communityof interests between a ruler and his staff, and such a
concentration of power in their hands, that the achievement of popular
legitimacyneed not even be contemplated,there would neverthelessstill require
to be a relationshipof authoritywithinthe rulingclass. Such authority,if it is to
be maintained in a stable form, requires structure and predictability in the
practices of government, and thus some sort of bureaucraticadministrationwill
inevitably emerge. But in the case of a totalitarianregime, this creates a
dilemma, for not only does the delegation of power towards the periphery
inevitablydiminishthat at the centre, but the presence of a bureaucraticideology
itself conflicts with the very authoritarianismin the service of which it was
initially generated. Even in authoritariansituations, therefore--or perhaps,
particularly in authoritariansituations--there tend to develop irreconcilable
conflictsbetween the interestsof the rulingstratumand the expectationsbred by
the system of bureaucraticcontrol. Where the regime and the administration
are ethnicallydistinct, these conflictsare likely to be accentuated,and where the
administrationshares with the mass an ethnic identity the preservationof which
is itself necessary to the maintenanceof the system as a whole, so also will the
tendency to politicalinstabilitybe reinforced.
These considerationsare particularlypertinentin the case of Liberia, a society
in which, at least until the time of the 1980 Coup, the majorpoliticalconnections
exhibited a high degree of transparency,yet in which a numericallysmall but
enormouslyprivilegedcore had succeeded, with the aid of an administrativestaff
from which it was ethnically separated, in maintainingits hold over an almost

The authoris presently workingin the Departmentof Sociology, University of Sokoto, Nigeria.
Field research was carried out in Liberia from December 1974 to June 1976, and in
August-September, 1981, under the auspices of the Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Manchester, in the first instance, and the Department of Sociology, University of
Sokoto, in the second. The financialsupport of the Social Science Research Council of the UK,
and the University of Sokoto CentralResearchFund is gratefullyacknowledged.
The argument outlined in this paper was presented in more detailed form in the author's
unpublished Ph.D. thesis, 'Domination and Personal Legitimacy in a District of Eastern Liberia'
(University of Manchester, 1979).
1. M. Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization(trans. T. Parsons and A. M.
Henderson, Free Press, Glencoe, 1947), p. 327.
479
480 AFFAIRS
AFRICAN

uniformly subjugated and disenfranchisedperiphery for half a century and

more. It is of obvious relevance to ask how this stability was achieved, and
indeed, this has been the dominant theme of virtually all political studies of
Liberiapublishedto date.2
In this paper, I am concerned with only one aspect of the stabilizationof the
regime in the pre-coup period:the phenomenonof the presidentialintervention
in hinterlandaffairs.

Some HistoricalConsiderations
The entity which is today 'Liberia' has existed for little more than 60
years. Prior to this time, Liberian sovereignty was largely restricted to the
narrowstrip of territorywhich had been annexed for the settlementof American
immigrantsof slave origin in the nineteenthcentury, and which had developed a
position of some importancein internationalaffairs primarilyas a result of its
strategiclocationon the WindwardCoast. The interior, unmappedand for the
most part unexplored, comprisedcongeries of small, linguisticallydifferentiated
and politically uncentralizedsocieties, the economies of which rested, almost
uniformly, upon subsistencecultivationof uplandrice, and limited trade in live-
stock and forest products.
The occupationof the hinterlandwas mostly affected in the period 1900-20,
and was occasioned by the need to secure Liberian sovereignty against the
designs of the western colonial powers. The subsequent history of the
Republic was crucially influenced by the unique position of the Americo-
Liberianimmigrantsin Liberianpoliticallife. A detailedreview of the relations
which developed between the immigrantsand the indigenous population is
beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say that a numberof factors com-
bined to ensure that the immigrantcommunity,despite its numericalinferiority
(it is probable that the proportionof settlers to indigenes at no time exceeded
1 per cent), was never assimilated,but ratherretainedits own distinctiveculture
throughoutthe developmentof the state. In the middle years of the twentieth
century this culture served to define the boundariesof the emergent comprador
class, which mediated the growing relationship between foreign capital and
indigenous labourto its own considerableadvantage. There resulted a society
which, though nominallyfree from colonialdomination,was markedlycolonialin
its socialpresumptions,and in the dynamicof its politicallife.
Initially, the stabilizationof these relations was achieved by coercive means,
but, given the overwhelmingnumericalsuperiorityof the subjecttribes3and the

2. See, for example, M. Fraenkel, Tribeand Class in Monrovia (OUP, 1964), J. G. Liebenow,
Liberia:the evolutionof privilege (Cornell, 1969), ChristopherClapham,Liberia and Sierra Leone
(Cambridge,1976), and M. Lowenkopf, Politicsin Liberia(Stanford, 1976).
3. The word 'tribe' had a widespread usage in pre-coup Liberia, and did not necessarily carry
derogatoryimplications. It is this usage which I refer to when I use the word 'tribe' or one of its
derivativesin this paper.
 POLITICS AS RITUAL 481

impoverishment of the state, it soon became apparent that the continued

ascendancyof the settler elite could not be guaranteedby coercion alone, and
thus coercion gradually gave way to incorporation as a means of political
control. The primaryfocus of incorporationwas the hinterlandadministration.
The significantimprovementin the tone of relationsbetween the elite and the
tribal people which resulted from this policy has been widely attributedto the
personalinitiative and moralconcerns of WilliamV. S. Tubman, Liberia's 18th
President and architect of the supposed unification of its tribal and settler
populations. It is arguable,however, that Tubman's aims were motivatedless
by humanity than by the need to secure more effectively Americo-Liberian
dominationover the hinterland, for the changes which he effected lay not so
much in the amalgamationof tribaland settler interests, as in the extension of the
techniques of subordination. Incorporation,not representation,was alwaysthe
major theme--incorporation into an existing polity, and on terms which con-
ceded to those subjectedto it a right not to a say in the policies of government,
but to a place in the hierarchiesof administrativecontrol.
There were obvious dangers in this policy of controlled incorporation,of
which Tubman as much as his more conservative opponents in the Americo-
Liberianestablishmentwas very well aware. These dangersderived in the first
instance from the ethnic distinctiveness of the settler elite, though they were
accentuated by the fact that the demarcationof the rural part-peasant/part-
proletariansector in contrastive'tribal'terms was itself an importantadjunctof
the politicaleconomy of the Liberianstate. For such an identity carriedwith it
implications of communal solidarity and mutual support, sentiments which
played a crucial role in underwritingthe welfare component of the industrial
wage, and, hence, in ensuring the competitivenessof the Liberianeconomy in
internationalterms.4
Given, therefore, a polity stabilized by incorporation and an economy
dependent to a high degree upon the conservationof potentiallydivisive ethnic
boundaries, the clear danger developed of the emergence of the partially
incorporatedgovernmentalelites as the spearheadof a 'tribal-nationalist'force
whose aim, in the first instance, was to free the hinterlandof Americo-Liberian
domination. Thus, the practice of hinterland government resolved into two
related aspects of political control. In the first instance, it aimed to exercise
tight control over the rural populationat one and the same time to sustain the
positive value of tribalsociety as a social welfare system, and also to containthe
ability of tribalidentity to become generalizedinto a counter-cultureopposed, in
a manifestly political frame of reference, to Americo-Liberiandomination.It
aimed in the second instance to control the incorporatedelements to ensure
their effective estrangement from the tribal mass, whilst at the same time
4. For a more detailed discussion of the ways in which the conservationof tribal society may serve
the needs of capitalism, see H. Wolpe, 'The theory of internalcolonialism:the South Africancase'
in I. Oxaaland others (eds.), Beyondthe Sociologyof Development(London, 1975).
482 AFRICAN
AFFAIRS

retaininga superficialconcernfor their representativefunction, in the interest of

the 'open' image of the interior administration. The former of these was
achieved throughvariousmeans:a patronizingattitudetowardstribalindividuals
who 'knew their place' and were willing to accept for themselves a legitimateif
subordinateposition in the hierarchiesof administrativeauthority;close control
over tribal organizations(the secret societies, for example) the loyalty of which
could not be guaranteed;an active policy of divide and rule, exploiting to the
full the highly fragmentednatureof tribalsociety so as to foster competitionfor
resourceson an ethnic basis;the supportof elitist institutionsand the promotion
of local-level competitionbetween these and the institutionsassociatedwith the
'tribe';and so on.
The second aspect of control-the isolation and subordination of the
indigenous elites---was secured primarilyby the extension of the techniques of
assimilation,which had previously been applied only in the internal relations
within the Americo-Liberiancommunity, to the local administrativecadres.
These techniques were both materialand ideologicalin nature. Salarieswithin
the interioradministrationwere generallyvery high when consideredagainstthe
impoverished standardsof the mass, and assumed an even greater importance
given the almost monopolisticposition of governmentas an employer of white-
collar personnel. Conflicts of interest, though nominallyforbidden under the
Constitution,were freely tolerated, except where otherwise expedient, with the
result that the more senior positions tended to take on the quality of personal
benefices, a tendency only partly mitigatedby the policy of rotating hinterland
staffs within, and between, the regions, to prevent their consolidatingtoo firma
power base in any one areaundertheir control.
But of equal importanceto these materialconsiderationswere the ideological
devices used to sustainthe integrityof the administration. This was very clearly
a patrimonialsystem, highly dependent on initiatives from the centre and upon
the presumption that central actors--particularly the President-retained a
personalinvolvementin the affairsof even the most subordinateofficials. Even
where authoritywas delegated to the lower levels, the terms of this delegation
served only to emphasizeand strengthenthe influenceof the core. The political
structure was also very markedly replicative in character, and regional and
districtlevel administrationswere closely modelledon the style of governmentat
the centre-both in terms of their value orientations,such as sharinga common
subordinationto the values of the Americo-Liberiancommunity,a subordination
reinforcedby the role of elitist institutions(the Freemasonry,United Brothersof
Friendship,etc.) in controllingthe patternsof occupationalassimilation,and also
in the mannerin which the techniquesof manipulationand controlemployed by
the central government were reflected in political practices at the lower
levels. How far there was any real and stable delegationof power, as opposed
to temporaryinfluence, to these lower levels is unclear,though certainlythis was
very much less thanhas often been assumed.
 POLITICSAS RITUAL 483

The tendency to decentralizationin the administrationwas also held in check

by the complementarypositions of the administrationand the True Whig Party
(defacto if not dejure the only politicalparty). Despite appearances,there was
not a diarchic structure of party and administration(as was the case in, say,
neighbouring Ivory Coast),5 and the power accorded to either wing was very
much conditioned by the power accorded to the other, the balance being
primarilythe result of the personalqualitiesof the politicalagents in each region,
and not a productof their formalroles.
The strong sense of social honour which markedthe administrationwas sus-
tained in a numberof ways. In Liberia, very little mystiqueattachedto specific
areas of competence within the ranksof governmentemployment;the mystique
of governmentattached, rather, to the system as a whole, and individualposts
derived their validity primarilyfrom their relevanceto a career in 'government'
and not from their functionalcharacteristics. Boundariesbetween competences
were minimaland movements of personnel routine, a situation which was only
fostered by the fact that policy goals were almost always formulatedoutside the
hinterland regions, and merely conveyed to them through the agency of the
administrativecadres. A corollaryof this was that even those in relativelylow
status positions were encouraged to conceive of their ambitionswithin, rather
than in oppositionto, the establishedsystem, and to view their careerin terms of
a slow and unpredictable,though seemingly guided and controlled, progression
throughthe ranksof governmentservice.
Around the extension of government employment into the hinterlandthere
developed a belief that the posts which comprised the administrationdid not
consist merely of a disparateset of unconnectedpositions, but formed, rather, a
hierarchicalsystem which was organized accordingto a complex and esoteric
structure of 'rules'.6 In order to petition for sustained incorporationinto the
administration,therefore, it became necessary to attempt to understandthese
'rules' and to 'play' the system on its own terms. The preoccupationof the
lower-level officials thus became the constant scrutiny and analysis of the past
practices of government so as to gain evidence of what the rules might
be. Aroundeach appointmentand each careerthere developed a set of myths:
these were fed both by the immediate experience of government at the local-
level, and by the fragmentedpieces of gossip and scandal which filtered down
from the arenasof nationalpolitics. The patrimonialimage which 'government'
assumedwas thus premisedon an acceptanceof past experiences of government
as indicative of an active and deliberate policy, and hence a prescriptionfor
future action:a belief that, whatever its excesses in other fields, with regardto
employmentit was (potentiallyat least) a benevolent and paternalisticinstitution,

5. See here M. Staniland,'Single Party Regimes and Political Change:the PDCI and Ivory Coast
Politics', in C. Leys (ed.), Politicsand Changein DevelopingCountries(Cambridge,1969).
6. For a more detailed discussion of the place of such 'rules' in the process of government in
Liberia, see Clapham,Liberiaand Sierra Leone.
484 AFRICAN
AFFAIRS

and hence both susceptible to pressure emanating from the local-level, and
protective of its interests. Like all ideologies, this was a partialinterpretationof
realitymasqueradingas a total one, but, like all ideologiesalso, it was a view more
easily supported by positive evidence than refuted by contradictions. And the
fact that these 'rules' provided, at best, very uncertainprescriptionsfor action
paradoxicallyaccentuated their incorporativepower, for so long as there was
some degree of congruence between myth and reality, it could always be held
that the benefits of accepting the system and maximizinggains within it by
adherence to the apparentlyestablished structure of rules would outweigh the
risks of outright opposition. Notably, however, such incorporation was
achieved at minimalcost to the regime and involved minimalconstraintupon its
future actions.
Because so much of the energies of the administrativecadres were expended
in the pursuit of individualinterests, in contexts which reinforced their com-
petitive relationshipwith their peers, there was also a very high degree of self-
regulation in regional affairs. Indeed, the amount of political intrigue at the
local level was often remarkable,as was the willingness of apparentlydisen-
franchizedhinterlandersto involve the centralauthoritiesin their own concerns.
This was, then, a highly managed system, brittle to the extent to which it
depended upon stabilityat the centre, but nevertheless stronglyintegrated and
with an importantideologicalas well as coercivecomponentin its structure.
It is in the context of this patrimonialimage of governmentin Liberiathat the
phenomenonof the presidentialinterventionmust be understood.

ThePresidentialIntervention
The direct involvementof the Presidentin the affairsof the hinterlandregions
has tended to be seen as an innovation of William Tubman, though in fact
Tubman merely consolidatedand developed an establishedadministrativepro-
cedure (which was in turn modifiedand extended by his successor). In orderto
appreciatethe terms of this personalinvolvement,it must be recognizedthat, in
Liberia, the conventionalboundaries between the three arms of government,
executive, judiciary, and legislature, were practically-speaking,all but non-
existent. At least since the incumbencyof Tubman (though possibly for many
years before that), the legislature and judiciary were subordinated to the
executive, particularlyto the presidency, and the extent of this subordination
went far beyond the provisionsof the Constitution(itself a very unreliableguide
to the practice of government in Liberia). So great, indeed, was the sub-
servience of these two to the interests of the political centre that, to all intents
and purposes, they figured (at least with regard to matters of political signifi-
cance) merely as subsidiaryarms of the True Whig Party. One evident conse-
quence of this subordinationwas to grant to the President almost unfettered
judicialpowers.
 POLITICSAS RITUAL 485

The actual form of the Presidential intervention varied according to the

situation. At one extreme were the councils presided over by the President
himself, in which justice was summarilymeted out, with only superficialregard
for the dictates of the law. At the other were 'conventional'courtroomtrials,
formally controlled by the judiciary,in which the President'spersonal interest
was not publicly acknowledged(though it could often be inferred). In between
these two extremeswas a varietyof types of interventionin which the President's
involvement was evident to a greater or lesser degree. For reasons which will
become apparent, I shall treat all these instances as variantsof a single generic
type.
The classic manifestation of the genre was the Presidential council in a
hinterland headquarters town. The typical council was convened by the
President in the course of a regionaltour to hear complaintsfrom local citizens,
usually againstmedium-levelor senior officialsof regionalgovernment. On the
ostensible basis of such complaintsthe President would act in characteristicand
apparentlyimpromptufashion, sometimesin favourof a complainant,sometimes
against him, always seeking to present himself as the true custodian of justice,
whatever the excesses of his subordinate officials. On other occasions, the
President'sinvolvementmight be delegatedto officialson whose loyaltyhe could
rely--a County Superintendent, for example, or other personal appointee.
What all these types of interventionhad in commonwas, firstly, an appearanceof
formaladherenceto the principlesof law, and, secondly, a considerableelement
of manipulationfrom the centre, whatevertheir outwardproceduralform. Yet
equally essential to the impact of such interventions, and to their function in
legitimizingthe status of the Presidentand of the politicalsystem as a whole, was
the fact that, despite an obvious air of contrivance,they did not merely serve to
confirmthe 'secular'hierarchiesof administrativeauthority,and did not merely
reflect the despotic exercise of Presidentialpower. Whilstthere was often little
doubt that their manipulationserved established interests, the manner of this
manipulationwas not always clear prior to or after the event, nor was it always
employed againstthe interests of the 'commonman'. There was, therefore, a
certaindegree of openness in these procedures,with the result that it was rarely,
if ever, possible to state with absolute convictionthat the ends were unjustified
by the means, and that justice had not, in the event, been done.
Two exampleswill suffice to illustratethe generaltheme.

Case 1: The Henry Fahnbulleh Affair7

The most celebrated instance of the 'politicaltrial' in recent years concerned
Henry Fahnbulleh,a tribal-borncareer diplomatwho had served as Ambassador
to Sierra Leone, and who was, at the time of his trial, Ambassadorto the East
African Common Market. In January1968, on a short visit to Monrovia for

7. See T. Wreh, TheLove of Liberty(London, 1975).

486 AFFAIRS
AFRICAN

President Tubman's 73rd birthdaycelebrations, he was unexpectedly arrested

and accused of plotting againstthe State. The originalchargeof sedition which
had been brought by the Attorney-General was subsequently overruled by
President Tubman in favour of more serious charges alleging both sedition and
treason. The evidence presented to supportthese charges, it is fair to say, was
far from convincing(Fahnbullehwas alleged to have conspiredwith a numberof
hinterlandofficials, CommunistChinese agents, and other foreign nationals,and
highly improbablesums of money were said to have been raised by the con-
spirators), but he was still found guilty on all counts-notably, in a jury
trial-and sentenced to the maximumterm of 20 years' imprisonmentwith hard
labour,all his personalpropertybeing confiscatedby the State.
Fahnbullehwas released from jail in 1972, shortly after Tubman'sdeath, and
was immediately appointed Assistant Minister of State for Presidential
Affairs. Following a disagreementwith President Tolbert, however, he was
dismissedfrom office, and remainedout of governmentuntil his appointment,in
1976, as Superintendentof his native GrandCape Mount County.

Case 2: The GrandGedehCocoaLandsAffairs

Among WilliamTolbert's first actions on his accessionto the Presidencywas
the replacementof eight of the nine Superintendentshe had inherited from his
predecessor (the ninth was JamesAndersonJr., an Americo-Liberianand son of
Tubman's influentialPresident Pro Tempore of the Senate, who was hanged in
1979 for alleged involvement in ritual murders with 'tribal' undertones).
Amongthe eight dismissedwas the GrandGedeh Superintendent,John Rancey,
a former Press Secretary to President Tubman. Rancey's dismissal followed
allegations lodged by one of the County's Senators to the effect that he had
falsified 'the list' of patronageappointmentsfor the County, and had verbally
abused a local Congressman. Rancey was replaced by Albert White, an
Americo-Liberianformer General and Army Chief of Staff, who had been
rusticated to the County by Tubman in 1965, for allegedly plotting a
coup. White was a close friend of President Tolbert, as well as his relative
throughmarriage.
Three months after White's appointment,Tolbert held a council in Zwedru,
the County seat, at which, amongother things, he announcedthe outcome of an
investigationby the Attorney-Generalinto a case concerningalleged fraudulent
claimsfor compensationover some cocoa landsappropriatedby the State. Four
senior County officialswhose names had been linked with the claimsin question
were dismissedfor 'loss of confidence'and the land-owner(a police-patrolman),
who had been held in jail for several weeks, was ordered to be released.
Another police-patrolman,who had brought a private prosecution despite his

8. See PresidentialPapersof IW.R. Tolbert,1971-2 (Republic of Liberia, n.d.).

 POLITICSAS RITUAL 487

superiors'indifferenceto the case, was promotedto the rankof Captainas an act

of gratitudeby the President.
Withintwo years, it might be added, at least two of the four dismissedofficials
were back on the governmentpayroll, one as a Congressman(he had previously
been a Deputy Inspector of Police), the other (formerly Adviser to the
Superintendent)as a County CourtJudge.
We see in these two cases evidence of the principles earlier discussed-a
strong element of centraldirection, for example, (itself a product of the marked
degree of flexibility that existed both in administrativeprocedure and in the
boundariesof Liberianlaw), yet also a certain amount of openness in the legal
process, so that the trials did not merely serve either to confirm established
hierarchiesof authority,nor, still less, to place that authorityin a realm beyond
dispute. The fact that the two cases span both the Tubman and Tolbert eras is
arguablyalso of some significance,insofar as it suggests that the forces which
encouragedthis politicalstyle were located as much at the social-structurallevel
as at the level of personalprediliction.
Commentingon the Fahnbullehaffair, Lowenkopf has raised the important
question of why, if there was no evidence of serious oppositionto Tubmanat the
time of the trial (as was apparentlythe case), the latter should neverthelesshave
been prepared to risk considerable adverse publicity in bringing the case to
court. To some extent, indeed, Tubman seems actively to have encouraged
such adverse publicity. For example, documents read out during the trial
(which were almost certainlyforged) contained highly inflammatoryallegations
as to the oppressive nature of True Whig rule, and Fahnbulleh,as might have
been expected, exploited to the full the politicalcontent of the charges, when he
was called to give his evidence. The jury's apparentassuranceas to his guilt
was certainlynot shared by the University of Liberia students who thronged to
the hearings--in such numbers and with such evident sympathy for the
defendantthat the Universityauthoritieswere compelled (or required)to issue a
ban on their absencefrom campusduringthe period of the trial.
Lowenkopf offers two suggestionsas to why the chargeswere broughtnever-
theless. In the first instance, he argues, Fahnbulleh'ssacrificewas to serve as a
warningto the educated youth to keep in line, on the groundsthat if they did so,
and did not (like Henry Fahnbulleh)become over-ambitious,then the benefits of
governmentpatronagewould be made fully availableto them. And secondly,
the trial was to serve as a warning to the Americo-Liberiancommunity to
maintain their own unity in the face of political change--but to accept
the necessity for change nevertheless, otherwise 'they would face more
Fahnbullehs'9in the yearsto come. Lowenkopfconcludes:

Tubman may have hoped to use the Fahnbullehcase to force a resolution of

9. Lowenkopf, Politicsin Liberia,p. 165.

488 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

the conflict between his need for (1) the support of the old elite, who were
unwillingto yield more of their own powers and (2) more flexibilityin dealing
with new contenders for influence if the potential opposition were to be
suppressed. Ideally, educated tribal people and trade union leaders who
were admittedinto the system would abide by its rules, and the conservative
old guard would reduce their hostility to assimiles who had accepted their
rules, as well as their values and behaviour.lo

This is a suggestive argument, and one which warrantsfurther elaboration.

In order to do this, I would argue that it is necessaryto view the phenomenonof
the political intervention as being as much a ritual as a juridicialevent--more
concernedwith statementsabout the social order than with more limited notions
of law-breaking and legal redress. This is, perhaps, a quality of legal
proceedingsand judgementsin general,but in the events in question, this quality
was exaggeratedand given dramaticexpression.
To say that the juridicial content of such interventions is conspicuously
low is not, I presume (in the light of the examples above), to indulge in any
great controversy. The claim that they are primarily 'ritual' is, however, a
more contentious one, and requires some substantiation. Before proceeding
further, therefore, I briefly digress to consider the essential qualities of ritual
as they might apply to such secularandmanifestlypoliticalevents.

Politicsas Ritual?
Sociological understandingof the phenomenon of ritual, as Mary Douglas
observes,1 has been inhibitedby a widespreadtendency to define its compassin
terms which apply more accurately to the topic of religion than to ritual per
se. For the most part, the characterizationof 'ritual' is not really held to be
problematicat all; its definition, as it were, emerges by default, as the active
component of an analytically prior system of religious beliefs. This pre-
occupation with the phenomenon of religion to the detriment of ritual (qua
ritual)can clearlybe relatedto the historicalcircumstancesof the developmentof
the discipline of social anthropology,and, specifically,to its traditionalconcern
with the metaphysics of societal change. So pervasive indeed has been this
theoreticaltendency that even those whose work in all other respects represents
a rejectionof the terms of the establisheddebate, still tend to fall back upon con-
ventionaldichotomiesat the definitionallevel. Witness, for example, Horton's
definition of ritual as the 'approachto mystical powers'," a view which surely
carries with it an implicit acceptance of the scientific/instrumentalversus
ritual/mysticalcontrast, of which Horton has himself been a leading critic; or
Goody's definitionof ritualas a 'categoryof standardizedbehaviourin which the
10. Ibid, pp. 165-6.
11. M. Douglas, Purityand Danger (Harmondsworth,1970), p. 81.
12. R. Horton, 'Ritual Man in Africa', Africa 34 (1964), p. 101.
 POLITICSAS RITUAL 489

relationshipbetween the means and ends is not 'intrinsic'i.e. is either irrational

or non-rational',13 an approachwhich (as Goody himself accepts) is extremely
difficultto operationalizeon the groundsof its evident interpretativesubjectivity.
Radcliffe-Brown,it is true, stands to some extent outside this mainstreamof
anthropologicalthought, by virtue largely of his refusal to accept the con-
ventional Durkheimiansacred/profaneproblematic,and of his concern with the
sociological instrumentality of ritual in an inclusive sense, not confined to
religious contexts alone. Ultimately, however, as Douglas has argued,14the
structural-functionalisttradition in which Radcliffe-Brown's work was em-
bedded prevented him from exploiting fully the implications of this
radicalism,and led him back to an orthodox interpretationfounded upon the
presumptionof an irreducibleand uncontentiousnormativeorder, in support of
which ritual played a purely confirmatoryrole. Nevertheless, retrograde as
Radcliffe-Brown'stheoreticalapproachultimatelyproved, it did at least have the
merit of focussing upon the sociological instrumentalityof the act, and of
regardingthat instrumentalityas an uncompromisingly'rational'phenomenon.
It will be evident here that neither of the broadconcernsreferred to above--
the one dealingwith the metaphysicsof the underlyingbelief, the other with the
mannerin which ritual reflects and reinforces an establishedvalue consensus--
are very relevantin the present context. For not only were the Liberianinter-
ventions manifestly secular events, but they were also located in a society in
which a presumptionof normativeharmonywould be very misleadingindeed.
In other terms, however, the applicationof the term 'ritual' to these inter-
ventions can be more readily justified. Most obviously, Mary Douglas's
eloquent considerationl of that aspect of ritual concerned with what might be
called 'social systematics'-with separation,segregation, and classification,with
the placingof socialboundariesand their validation-has an obvious relevanceto
the understanding of the place of these interventions in the Liberian
government's armoury of disciplinarytechniques. One is reminded here of
Clapham'sreference to the role of treason trials in 'policing the boundaries'in
relationsbetween the populace and the ruling elite,16a policing role required, I
would argue, by the dependence of the Liberian political process upon incor-
poration and conservationas techniques of stabilization. Douglas's emphasis
upon the boundary-formingfunctionsof ritualperformancesin additionserves to
emphasize the dynamic nature of the political forces involved; certainly, in
Liberia it would be mistaken to regard the 'policing of boundaries' as
necessitatedonly by the need to reminda recalcitrantpopulationof the rectitude

13. J. R. Goody, 'Religion and Ritual: the definitionalproblem', BritishJournal of Sociology 12

(1961), p. 159.
14. Douglas, Purity and Danger, p. 81. See also A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, Structure of Functions in
Primitive Society (London, 1952).
15. Ibid, passim.
16. Clapham, Liberia and Sierra Leone, p. 70.
490 AFFAIRS
AFRICAN

of a static social order in the face of forces acting for its dissolution. For this
would be to ignore the fact that the needs of the regime were not defined only in
relation to the established structure, but also by the necessity of maintaining
controlover the processes of politicalchange.
Compatiblewith Douglas'sconcernwith these systematizingfunctions is A. P.
Cohen's view of ritual, also in instrumentalterms, as 'formalized behaviour
which has the effect of imposing some sort of normative order on social
relations'.17 This interpretationclearly has something in common with that
of Radcliffe-Brown, though lacking the latter's structural-functionalistpre-
sumptions. Its merits in the present context derive from the fact that,
minimalistas it is, it is a view which neverthelessserves to emphasizethe political
rationaleof ritual performances,in attributingnormativevalue to what are, at
heart, partisanimperatives.
In other terms also, there are affinitiesbetween conventionalritualevents and
the interventionswhich are the subject of this paper. Garfinkel'sanalysislsof
the conditionsfor successful status degradationsis of obvious relevance, insofar
as these interventions usually proceeded through the medium of a personal
denunciation,and, in a more generalframe of reference, Gluckman'sthesis con-
cerning the sociologicalrationale of rites de passage'9is also applicable in the
present context, where role segregationis often a majortheme. And finally,one
might refer to Turner'sdiscussionof the contrastingcircumstancesin which jural
and ritual mechanisms of public redress may be brought into play.20 Jural
machinery,Turner contends, tends to be invokedwhere both partiesto a dispute
appeal to a commonnorm or, if normsconflict, where these normsare arranged
in a clearly accepted hierarchy. Ritual mechanisms,on the other hand, tend to
be invoked where fundamental norms are challenged or where conflicts are
expressed at a relatively deep social level.21 In its original context, the
exposition of this hypothesis is confined within the structural-functionalistpre-
sumptionsof Turner'searlywork, and is concernedwith a sociologicalanalysisof
the circumstancesof witchcraftand related accusationsin a rural district of N.
Rhodesia (Zambia). But shorn of its functionalistbias, the hypothesis may be
applied to the Liberiantrials. For, by implication,Turner's thesis applies not
only to contrastingconventional'judicial'and 'ritual'situations, but also to the
relative weighting of mechanisms of conflict resolution within one social
situation. In the latter instance the thesis also has taxonomic implications.
Thus, in the present context, it might be suggested that jural mechanismswill
tend to predominate in situations where the validity of particular norms is
acceptedby the collectivityas a whole, while ritualmechanismswill predominate
17. A. P. Cohen, TheManagementof Myths (Manchester, 1975), p. 15.
18. H. Garfinkel, 'Conditions of Successful Degradation Ceremonies', American Journal of
Sociology51 (1956).
19. H. M. Gluckman, Essayson the Ritualof Social Relations(Manchester, 1962).
20. V. W. Turner, Schismand Continuityin an African Society(Manchester, 1957).
21. Ibid, pp. 122 ff
 POLITICS AS RITUAL 491

in situationswhere conflictsexist between norms(or 'rules') or where established

norms may conflict with the interests of a dominantsocial group. The charac-
terizationof an event as either ritual or non-ritualwill therefore be decided not
on the basis of the metaphysics of the underlying beliefs, but by the issue of
whether conflict is resolved or suppressed in the circumstancesof the act; in the
latter case (pace Douglas and Cohen) ritual will function so as to attributevalue
to those interests which, through political expediency or otherwise, must
necessarilyprevail.
With these considerations in mind we can now proceed to consider the
rationaleof the 'politicaltrial'.

Ideologyand Intervention:the rationaleof thepoliticaltrial

My contentionis, therefore, that the phenomenonof the politicalintervention
in Liberiahas importantritualqualities, and can be analysedin these terms-as a
dramaticperformance,with characteristicswhich derive from, and accentuate,
its role in locating social boundaries, attributing value to them, and in
suppressingand resolvingconflictwithin the normativeorder.
In pursuing this analogy, it should be emphasized that the interventions in
question cannot merely be seen as reflecting the total coercive power of the
Liberianstate. For were they only a product of this power, there would have
been little reason for the regime to have allowed them to take such an elaborate
form. Given that there is always a tendency for rituals-particularly rituals of
rebellion (and there is clearly an element of the latter in such events)-to
exaggerate divisions which they are intended to suppress, their performance
harboursobvious dangers for the stability of establishedinterests. These are
not, then, just examples of ritualized affirmationsof common and accepted
norms. By the same token, neither do they merely illustrate the 'formalism'
which Liebenow regards as a basic principle of Americo-Liberiangovernment
affairs,22for they did have substanceas well as form in the sense that their out-
come was not alwaysapparentfrom the outset to those who participatedin them.
An adequate explanation for the occurrence and form of these quasi-ritual
events must ratherlocate them within a wider class of performancesof a more
orthodoxritualtype, and to see in them a manifestationof strainswhich occurred
at all levels of the Americo-Liberian-dominatedpolitical structure. Recourse
tended, I suggest, to be made to such ritualtechniques for reasonswhich relate
ultimatelyto two conflictingaspects of the (pre-coup) Liberianstate-the com-
binationof a pervasiveideology which penetratedeven to the local level, and the
often contradictorydemandsof a system of centralizedand authoritarianpolitical
control.
A majorelement in the legitimizationand stabilizationof the Liberian state
under settler rule was provided by an idiosyncratic ideology of govern-

22. Liebenow, Liberia, p. 81.

492 AFFAIRS
AFRICAN

ment. This ideology was expressed as a set of 'rules' concerning,for example,

the cult of the presidency, the importance of patronage and administrative
incorporation,and the legitimateproceduresfor the furtheranceof claimsto the
resourcesof the state. These rules gave the appearance,at least, of a normative
order, and as such created expectationsfor those drawn under their sway, but
this orderwas not necessarilya consistentone, nor did it alwayscoincidewith the
interestsof the regime. The resultingconflictsin values and interestscould not
have been allowed to work themselves out informally through the political
process, for this would in turn have contradictedanother,andprior, aspect of the
dominationof the state---theprimacyof the interestsof the regime.
Neither could they have been handledby routinebureaucraticmeans, for this
would have conceded to the bureaucracycontrol over the interests and goals of
the regime. It became necessary, therefore, to separate out from these con-
flictingprinciplesonly those aspects which were compatiblewith the aims of the
regime at the time in question, and to grant these a legitimacybased not upon
utilitariandemands (for this would have denied the efficacy of the ideology of
government), but upon their apparenttranscendence. It was necessaryalso to
separateout forbiddenstatusesand actions, and to imbue these with notionsakin
to those of ritualdanger--not because these were inherentlyof this nature, but
for precisely the opposite reason. Such political rituals did not, in the main,
lend themselvesto a religiousvalidation(though there was an element of this, in
the way the power of the Presidentwas idealizedand dissociatedfrom the realm
of everyday affairs). In general, however, the sanctificationwas one based
more upon the supposed needs of the society as a whole, the inner harmonyof
which was transcendentally,though not theologically, defined. This in turn
requiredthe validationof the consensus, not merelyof judicialprinciple.
It follows that the social order and statuses reaffirmedin successive ritual
events might change---indeed,were they not to do so, there would have been no
need for such performancesat all. Ironically,therefore, the ritualswere them-
selves productiveof further'rules'and precedents, andhence of furtherconflicts
between the demandsof expediencyand ideology.
The natureof the actualconflictsinvolvedvariedfrom context to context. In
the Fahnbullehcase, for example (as Lowenkopf suggests), the interests of the
progressiveelements in the regime were expressed througha structureof rules
of political incorporation--andthus the basic conflict appeared as a contrast
between these rules and the interests of the more conservativeelements of the
settler elite. The ritual focus in the trial of Fahnbulleh thus involved the
degradationof the status of the defendantin circumstanceswhich, indirectlyand
implicitly, allowed the dominant ('progressive') interest group to 'police the
boundaries'in its relations not only with the rising indigenous elites, but also
with entrenched interests within the Americo-Liberationcore. The Grand
Gedeh incident, on the other hand, involved the suppressionof the rules of the
incorporativesystem in favour of the interests of the newly-inducted Tolbert
 POLITICS AS RITUAL 493

regime-interests which were in turn expressed by reference to a furtherset of

rules concerningthe demandsof politicalpatronagein a situationof change.
On other occasions, a constellationof principlesmight be opposed in a single
ritual event. A final example, drawn from my own fieldworkin Grand Gedeh
Countyin 1975/76, illustratesthis point.

Case 3: TheKwiahbloCouncil
A criticalelement in the legitimationof the regime of WilliamTolbert which
succeeded that of W. V. S. Tubman on his death in 1971, lay in the decision to
democratize the selection procedure for membership of the House of
Representatives. This was combined with an informalstipulationthat, unless
the centralgovernmentdeemed otherwise, nomineesshould normallybe citizens
of the constituencies they were to represent. The first occasion on which the
new procedure was to be used was in the national congressionalelections of
1975. The actualmechanicsof the electoralprocess need not concern us here,
though it shouldbe said that the change was less radicalthanit initiallyappeared,
for the governmentstill retainedtight controlover the finalchoice of candidates,
and the post of Congressman,in any case, carriedlittle actualpower.
Though presented, in the usual fashion,as yet furtherproof of the President's
far-sightedness and benevolence, it would seem that this innovationhad been
largely forced upon the governmentby the need to make some public accommo-
dation to the demandsof the increasinglyvocal indigenouselites. It would seem
also that the central governmenthoped, by making this limited concession, to
preempt any demands for further and more fundamentalreform. There was,
for example, no evidence that the apparent democratization of selection
procedurewas to be accompaniedby any concessionto the hinterlandof the right
to formulate policy, and certainly, the introduction, through the electoral
process, of local resources into the arenas of central competition, in the
furtherance of interests not defined by the regime, was still absolutely
proscribed.
In the districtin which I worked, however, this undoubtedlyoccurred. The
contest for the place on the party ticket soon resolved into a straight fight
between the local District Commissioner,an elitist candidatewith strongcentral
connections,and a clerk who, though employed by governmentand by no means
a radical in his political philosophy, came over as a populist and anti-
establishmentcandidatewith a strong 'tribal'appeal. The latter received the
nominationand was allowed (to the surprise of many) to take his place in the
House. It happened, however, that three months after this election, the
President was due to be confirmedin office for another term, an event which
traditionallysignalled the redeployment of administrativestaff on a national
scale. Under normal circumstances,this would have given the newly-elected
494 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

Congressmanthe opportunity of repaying his campaign debts through the

exercise of patronageover the appointmentsin his district. In the district in
question, however, the fact that the losing candidatewas also the incumbent
DC, as well as a man closely identifiedwith the regime, presented a majorcom-
plication. For if the patronagefunctionwere to have been conceded to the new
Congressmanin a way which indicateda weakeningof the position of his former
opponent, this might have been interpreted as an endorsement of the
Congressman'sapparentlyanti-establishmentstance.
Here, then, was a situation in which a number of conflictingdemands were
brought to bear in a single political context. The result was a political trial in
the court of President Tolbert. Shortly before the reinauguration,a case was
brought before the President by three associates of the new Congressman,
alleging a numberof instancesof administrativemalpracticeby the DC. Right
from the startit was evident that the substanceof the chargeswas of less conse-
quence than the context in which they were brought, and that the aim of the
complainantswas to obtainthe removalof the DC so as to allow the Congressman
to exercise the prerogativesof his office unimpeded. The mannerin which the
complaints were brought was clearly influenced by the two incidents in the
County which followed Tolbert's successionto the Presidencysome three years
before. The hearingof the case was delegated by the Presidentto the County
Superintendent, and a tribunal of inquiry was convened in the District
Headquarters,Kwiahblo. Initially,the consensuswas that the DC's fate in the
courtroom had been sealed by his poor showing at the polls, but it became
apparentduring the course of the week-long hearingsthat the central govern-
ment, havingmade one concessionto the 'tribes'in the form of the democratiza-
tion of the Congressionalelection, was in no mood to makeanother,and the com-
plainantsrapidlybegan to appearas the defendantsin the case. This change of
status was given very dramaticexpressionshortlybefore a weekend recess when
four other associatesof the Congressmanwere suddenlysummonedto appearin
court alongsidethe three complainants,and all seven were implicatedin a charge
of treason againstthe State. Following the resumption, however, and after a
conciliatoryrallyingspeech, the Superintendenthanded down to the 'accused'
what were, in the circumstances,very light sentences indeed. This was a con-
siderablerelief not only to the individualsconcernedbut also to the populationat
large, for the atmospherewhich had been generatedduringthe trial-of a vague
and sinister, and potentiallyvery generalizedsense of blame-had placed a con-
siderablestrainon everyone involved. As he rose to leave, the Superintendent
received somethingnot far short of a standingovation, and there was no doubt
that his own status in the district, and by extension, that of the central govern-
ment, had been significantlyenhancedby his conduct of the trial. There was
considerableirony in this, however, for none of the seven men found guilty had
ever been formallycharged,and the evidence on which they had been convicted
was circumstantial,to say the least.
 POLITICS AS RITUAL 495

The KwiahbloCouncil:Analysis
Here again, it is as a ritual performance that this trial can be seen as
representative of a wider class of political events. The trial itself was a
logical outcome of pressures created by the Congressionalelection of the pre-
ceding months. The democratizationof the selection procedure, while in
accordancewith the establishedideology of governmentand a logical extension
of existing techniques of incorporation,generated majorconflicts between the
demands of ideology and the interests of the regime. Thus, the (partial)
dissociationof the selection procedure from the constraintsof patronageat the
centre conflictedwith the requirementthat local-level politics should not involve
the mobilization of tribal resources independently of the interests of the
regime. The demands of patronageat the local level conflictedboth with the
demandsof patronageat the centre and with the requirementthat claimsarising
from the election should be made only within the established structure of
authorityrelationssupportiveof the state. The latterin turn conflictedwith the
precedents created by previous concessions to the local level of an influence in
government affairs (cf. the cocoa-fraud affair). And all these threatened to
expose the central contradictionin the Liberianpolitical system-between the
interestsof a rulingclass largelyidentifiableas ethnically'Americo-Liberian'and
a subjugatedclasscomprisingthe hinterland'tribal'population.
The tensions created by these conflictingdemandswere brought to a head in
the Superintendent'sCourtCase in Kwiahblo. In this, it soon becameclear that
the initial defendantwould be supportedby the central government. This was
not inevitablein the context of centralgovernment/locallevel relations,although
it was stronglyfavoured by the circumstancesin which the complaintshad been
brought before the court. There followed a trial which served both as a
ceremonyof statusdegradationand as a reintegrativeritualin which the divisions
expressed in the election were symbolicallyexpunged. This ritualperformance
also served to demarcateboundariesin the relationsbetween the governmentand
the people--to separateout and validatethe roles and statuseswhich the govern-
ment found it expedient to support, and to sanctifythese by instillingin them the
legitimacy of the public consensus. These boundaries were very carefully
defined so as to involve the least disruptionof those aspects of the ideology of
governmentwhich were not directlyaffectedby the events in question.
Crucial to the efficacy of the ceremony of status degradationwas the lack of
clarity in the boundariesof the denunciationand in the locus of 'blame'. The
potential target for the denunciationincluded not only the 'accused'(for so they
had become), but also the public gatheredto witness the case, and beyond this
the whole population of the district besides. For much of the proceedings,
there was no clear conception among the assembly as to the identities of the
parties to the dispute, nor as to where the boundaries of involvement were
drawn--the implicationbeing rather that it was the whole communitythat was
potentially on trial. The manner in which the boundariesof guilt were con-
496 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

stantly distorted,confused, and subsequentlyredefinedby the centralactor, the

Superintendent, clearly affected everyone in the court, and exaggerated the
extent to which they all felt themselves to be implicated in the proceedings.
Equally, it served also to strengthenthe sense of commonalitygeneratedin the
final stages of the status degradation(which also functionedas the reintegrative
phase of the wider ritual event). This followed from the circumstancesof the
status passage. The fact that the assembly had collectively experienced the
movementto the limen in such an immediatesense reinforcedthe legitimacyof
the establishedorderwhen they were relocatedwithinits bounds.
Notably, whilst a large number of individuals (government officials and
others) had been threatened with charges of treason during the proceedings,
none of the more secure membersof the elite were formallyarraignedbefore the
court. The group who were convicted had in common not only their shared
loyaltyto the Congressman,but also the fact of their markedlyambivalentsocial
status-all were sometimegovernmentworkers, on the fringes of the local elite,
but also well-known as practitionersof the secretive 'tribal'arts. Here again,
therefore, the boundary-formingqualities of the ritual related to the wider
historicalcontext of political control, and to its twin themes of conservation(of
the tribes) and incorporation(of the elite).
Finally, it is worthyof note that in the administrativereshuffle which followed
the President'sreinaugurationthe followingmonth, the interestsof the new (but
seemingly, now discredited) Congressmanwere very far from overruled. If
anything,the patterningof local appointmentsrepresenteda strengtheningof his
position and a weakening of that of the DC (who was subsequently trans-
ferred). Ultimately, therefore, the demandsof the bureaucraticideology were
very largelyupheld.

Conclusion
In this article, I have argued that the phenomenon of the political trial in
Liberiamust be seen as a product of conflicts deriving from the existence of a
strong bureaucraticideology within the confines of a totalitarianstate. These
trials, it was suggested, functionedprimarilyas ritualperformances,the effect of
which was to sustainthe ascendencyof the interests of the regime in a situation
of constantpoliticalflux. The ethnic distinctivenessof the core in the pre-coup
period was clearlyan importantcomponentof the situationin question, for it was
this which gave rise to the dominanceof incorporation/conservation as means of
political control.
It remains only to consider to what extent the incidence and patterning of
these interventionsmight have been affected by the circumstancessurrounding
the 1980coup.
With regardto the period immediatelyprior to the coup, the limited evidence
presentlyavailablesuggeststhat as the legitimacyof Americo-Liberianrule came
under increasing challenge, the incidence of Presidential councils also
 POLITICSAS RITUAL 497

increased. This is consistent with the argument outlined above. It would

seem also that, as oppositionto the regime gainedin strength, so did the capacity
of these rituals to suppress, rather than express, divisions between the settler
core and the tribes progressivelydecline. That this was the case can be related
not only to the necessity, for ritual to be effective, of a stable political
community,23but also to the mannerin which this efficacyis dependent upon an
ability to invest interests with normativepower-to obscure, by mythic means,
the realities of self-interest and to sanctionthese with the appearanceof trans-
cendent and compelling need. Once the political status quo ceases to be the
basis upon which interestsare assessed, then clearlythe abilityof ritualto imbue
the statusquo with normativepower is inevitablydecreased.
With the overthrowof Americo-Liberianrule, new resourceshave been intro-
duced into the arenas of Liberianpolitics, and new rules formulatedto govern
their allocation. At the same time, there would appearto have been a surprising
degree of continuitybetween the methodsof the settler governmentand those of
its successor. There has, for example, been little diminutionof the extent of
the centralizationof political power, with the result that incorporationremains
the majorrationaleof administrativeemployment,and the cult of the Presidency
continues unabated. And whilst the ethnic distinction between 'Americo-
Liberians'and 'tribals'no longer coincides with the dominantpolitical division,
there are increasingindicationsthat ethnicitystill plays--or at least, is believed to
play--an importantpart in the allocationof resources at all politicallevels, with
previously inconsequentialethnic units now emergingas majorsocial groupings.
Neither has there necessarily been any diminution of the extent to
which the interests of the regime and the bureaucracycan be distinguished,for
here the settler/tribaldistinctionhas given way to another,potentiallyas radical,
cleavage between military and civilians. One suspects, therefore, that the
presidentialinterventionmay still have a role to play in the legitimizationof the
Liberianstate.
23. See Douglas, Purityand Danger, p. 19.