Controllers in Rural Tanzania

Samenvatting

The position and role of government personnel in rural Tanzania is investigated. They form a separate social grouping, occupying a clearly distinct social position vis-a-vis the peasantry. The actions and alliances of these functionaries are studied by the method of game analysis which devotes considerable attention to disputes and other forms of conflict. Emphasis in on the analysis of political dramas, ie, situations in which the status quo is seriously threatened. What emerges is that the functionaries themselves are contestants in the struggle which takes place for control over vital resources in the rural areas. Two reasons are given for this involvement: first, controllers have to defend their own privileged position and its rewards, and second, they have a vested interest in the status quo, mainly because they have forged profitable exchange relations with the wealthy peasants. This renders it likely that the functionaries will, if required, protect their wealthy allies from levelling movements and similar threats. Equally, the coalition denies most of the opportunities created by party and state after independence to the poorer majority of the peasants. Moreover, it plays a pivotal role in the distribution of the remaining resources in valuable land. Thus, the functionaries are hardly the neutral agents of modernization which many consider them to be, let alone a vanguard of the socialist revolution. AA.