Only empire-level authority in West Africa rested on force rather than custom

Evidence

Each of these political units, empires excepted, traditionally had its own, for the most part popularly accepted, chief responsible for administering the “affairs of state.” At the level of the village and the canton, these chiefs were usually descendants of the family responsible for founding the political unit. At the level of a kingdom, in contrast, power was genuinely feudal: a seignorial class of aristocratic chiefs-often canton chiefs themselves-limited the authority a hereditary king could accumulate. Only at the level of the empire, Delafosse concluded, was authority noncustomary, that is to say, acquired by force. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 687

Categorization

• SEED: A neat taxonomy distinguishing customary patriarchal authority from force-based empire authority could anchor an essay on how colonial powers rationalized legitimacy claims.