The making of a modern chiefdom state; The case of Tonga

Autor: Paul Grijp
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 1993
Předmět:
Zdroj: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, Vol 149, Iss 4, Pp 661-672 (1993)
ISSN: 0006-2294
Popis: Tonga has never been colonized by a foreign political system of government. However, never having been officially colonized does not mean it has been completely independent. In the nineteenth century, Tonga developed from a situation in which several groups of chiefs dominated the islands, to a centralized state power with a king: a modern chiefdom state. Tonga is a modern state with all the usual requirements: a government with a parliament, civil service, legislation, judges, police, army, school system, health care, post office, etc. At the same time, however, it has several characteristics of a chiefdom, although in an adapted form. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Tonga was involved in a civil war. There were political intrigues, political murders, and field battles in which hundreds and sometimes thousands of people participated. During this civil war, one of the competing chiefs, with the aid of European firearms and the moral support of European missionaries, was able to centralize political power in the Tongan archipelago. Following the western, or, to be more precise, British example, this chief, whose name was Taufa'ahau, was made King of Tonga in 1845. During the following decades his authority was legitimized by several codes of law. At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, certain chiefs were given noble titles, nopele in Tongan, with corresponding land properties. Since then, beside the royal family these nopele have been the most important source of power in Tongan politics, although recently their influence has been challenged by members of the new middle class, such as hospital workers and school
Databáze: OpenAIRE