The Concept of ‘States within a State’ Amidst Conflict and Peace Building Ventures In Bafut
This study looks at the perception and manifestation of the concept of ‘states’ in African communities. A state, in African context, is an organisation of human beings connected by a system of relations. Within the states, different groups of people exist and different individuals have different roles to play. Some exercise special powers or authority, capable of giving command, which is obeyed by the people they rule. In the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon (present-day North West Region), these individuals are called fons and chiefs and they rule fondoms. In Westernised societies, they would be called kings. Since colonial period, government administrators refer to them as traditional rulers or natural rulers. Amongst these rulers are some who rule over what is commonly referred to as semi-autonomous polities within the fondoms.
