Swaziland today: law and politics under King Mswati III

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Periodical article

Title:	Swaziland today: law and politics under King Mswati III
Author:	Radipati, B.D.D.
Year:	1992
Periodical:	Année africaine - CEAN
Pages:	243-267
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Swaziland - Eswatini
Subjects:	political change political stability
Abstract:	Recent political evolutions in Swaziland and particularly the events surrounding the succession of King Sobhuza II, who died in 1982, cannot be understood without referring to the nature of power and its traditional bases. The monarchy, under the direction of King Sobhuza II, succeeded in reinforcing its powers considerably and in constituting an original political system essentially based on a systematization of tradition. Mutations in the constitutional, political and juridical system attest to the existence of a highly stable political system able to accommodate and control innovations imported from the Western world. This paper first outlines the characteristics of the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Swazi polities, and then goes on to discuss the interregnum following Sobhuza's death, underground movements of the 1980s, the ascension to the throne of Mswati III in 1986, the Swazi-South African land issue, and two cases of unlawful detention. Notes, ref., sum. in English and French (p. 7).