Paper short abstract:

This comparative microanalysis between Lagos and Khartoum shows how social actors linked to the former native administration produce bureaucratic practices at the grassroots level. Far from being out of the state, they weave relations with the « formal » having ambiguous effects on urban governance

Paper long abstract:

Sudan and Nigeria share the common feature of having experienced indirect rule under colonisation. After independence, the traditional ruler system has been challenged several times. In Sudan, the Bechir regime revitalized it in the early 1990s. In Lagos, this system is still used by the Local Governments to administrate popular neighbourhoods. Our analysis compares two different neighbourhoods in Khartoum and Lagos and studies the role of traditional rulers. In Khartoum, we focus on the case of a "nazir", who is in charge of the administration of his "tribe". We show how he is a key "wasit" (intermediary) between the state and the residents, especially in the case of land issues. In Lagos mainland, we highlight the role of a "baale" who attempts to organize residents in order to provide security. Both traditional rulers have been also civil servants and deeply influenced by bureaucratic culture. Even if other grassroots state actors have challenged them, they are sometimes integrated in these formal « bottom-up » organisations, and they maintain strong links with political parties. We stress that their authority has been supported by the recognition of the state, which utilises traditional rulers in order to maintain order in urban spaces, where the state is almost absent in everyday life. This provokes two trends: the more the traditional rulers produce bureaucratic practices, making reports to the police, registering residents for land etc., the more they become « straddling » actors with ambiguous effects.