54 AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS
kings, and to-day by the labour flow and the development of new social groups and values and modes of behaviour, the smaller social groups have remained relatively constant.
The essence of both the systems described is the opposition of like groups and the potentially conflicting loyalties of the people to different authorities. The nation was a stable organization, for this opposition was principally between the tribes which were united in the king's position and his regiments. The circulation of the rulers' wealth was necessary to enable them to maintain their close relationship with their people. The conflict of loyalties to officials of different rank, often intriguing against one another, came into the open as a check on misrule. Therefore, despite the apparent autocracy of king and chiefs, ultimately sovereignty in the State resided in the people. However, though a ruler might be deposed, the office was not affected. In actual administration, the loyalties of the people and the competition of officers did not often conflict, since the administrative machinery worked through the heads of groups of different type: the main opposition was between similar groups, co-operating as parts of a larger group.
To-day the system is not stable, for not only is Zulu life being constantly affected and changed by many factors, but also the different authorities stand for entirely different, even contradictory, values. The Zulu, with their strong political organization, have reacted against white domination through their political authorities, who were incorporated in Government administration. The modern political organization of Zululand is the opposition between the two colour-groups represented by certain authorities. Each group makes use of the leaders of the other group if it can for its own purposes. The opposition between the two groups is not well-balanced, for ultimately it is dominated by the superior force of Government, against which the only reaction of the Zulu is acceptance or passive disobedience. The threat of this force is necessary to make the system work, because Zulu values and interests are so opposed to those of the Europeans that the Zulu do not recognize a strong moral relationship between themselves and Government, such as existed, and exists, between themselves and their king and chiefs. They usually regard Government as being out to exploit them, regardless of their interests. Government is now largely a sanction on oppressive chiefs, but the old checks on the chiefs act to prevent them becoming merely