Patrons and Power by Sandra T. Barnes

Author:Sandra T. Barnes [Barnes, Sandra T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Human Geography, Anthropology, Cultural & Social
ISBN: 9780429815065
Google: JwtpDwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-08-06T02:52:36+00:00

THE ROLE OF THE PUBLIC IN POLITICAL PROCESSES

The ability of Mushin’s leaders to entrench themselves at the top was reinforced by a lack of interest in local issues on the part of most ordinary residents. The landowning leaders of Mushin became relatively well-integrated in the political community; the tenant stratum did not. There were many reasons for the lack of tenant involvement. For one, the urban situation itself – a high level of transience and a low number of political interest groups and outlets – contributed to a low level of participation on the part of most residents. For another, the relative youth of the nation-state and the primacy of ethnic over national allegiances also discouraged political participation of minority migrant populations in alien situations. Finally, the struggle for existence in a competitive and overly-populated urban economy directed peoples’ attentions away from public issues and toward public resources and ways to get them. Each of these factors – and they are given greater attention below – contributed to the ability of landowning leaders to dominate political affairs in Mushin.

The political activities of the general public were not limited to one place. There were four administrative districts in metropolitan Lagos, and political action could be oriented to any one of them. The resident who wanted a stall in a Mushin market was obliged to enter briefly into the political life of Mushin since the rights to allocate that stall were held by Mushin’s local government. By contrast, the resident of Mushin who wanted a market stall in, say, municipal Lagos, directed her attention with respect to that goal to the municipal political system. All of this is to say that the political orientations of ordinary residents were not necessarily focused on any one political arena all of the time or, in the extreme, any of the time. Indeed, their public involvements were dispersed throughout the metropolitan area, and this diluted any collective strength they might have. By contrast, the energies of owners were focused. They had proprietary interests in a specific administrative district and consequently their collective position was strong.

The political attentions of ordinary residents also might be focused on their homeplaces and not on the city. Here again their position was weakened. The majority of Mushin residents did not have long-term commitments to living in the metropolitan area. They preferred to concentrate their efforts on the places where they ultimately planned to reside or where their political citizenship was unquestioned. When migrants left their homes, their kinship ties, economic rights, and political rights did not terminate. So long as they maintained close connections, their rights to be considered politically active members of their homeplaces remained intact. One way to keep home ties alive was to participate in a hometown (ethnic) voluntary association.

Ethnic group voluntary associations were important outlets for urban residents. However, the interests of these groups were largely directed away from local government issues. Although my evidence is not systematic, it appeared that only a few hometown voluntary associations joined forces as a group with the AG or political leaders in Mushin.

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