Local Governance in Timor-Leste - Secretaria de Estado da Arte e ...

evolve around ideas of traditional societies being internally homogenous in theirvalues and structures, and being in absolute opposition to modern values and societalforms (Gusfield, 1967: 352-357). It is clear that the underlying assumptions oftradition as unchanging, internally uncontested, and necessarily in conflict withmodernity need to be seriously questioned. In this thesis I use the term 'traditional' inrecognition of the embedded nature of these institutional structures, which can betraced to their historical formation prior to Portuguese colonisation. While this thesisis focused on the contemporary relevance of traditional governance, I argue that theirimportance cannot be understood without reference to their historical development—and that the term traditional indicates the deep historical roots of these institutionalstructures in a way that 'customary' or 'informal' fails to do.The communities that command primary loyalty within Timor-Leste are small kinbasedgroups that are bound together through traditional institutions and dependenciesthat flow from these institutions. These communities have been central to localTimorese governance since pre-colonial days, so it can be rightly argued thattraditional institutional structures define, in a very real sense, membership of thecommunities themselves. This in turn carries important implications for economic andpolitical life. I argue that failure to recognise this symbiosis between traditionalgovernance and kin-based groups that has become embedded over the centuriesmisses the economic and political significance of traditional institutions as theyoperate within contemporary Timorese communities. It is this dynamic—rather thanan artificial conception of traditional institutions as static and inflexible, or oftradition and modernity as binary opposites—that I aim to reflect through retainingthe term 'traditional'.In this thesis, I argue for a critical approach to institutionalism that incorporates theeveryday politics of mutual recognition. In coining Tully's term of 'mutualrecogntion', I do not imply that there is currently an effective recognition oftraditional governance by the Timorese state. Rather, the 'everyday politics of mutualrecogntion' reflects on that aspect of local politics wherein agents of the state (police,elected officials, government appointees) work together with traditionally legitimatedleaders to solve problems and pursue political agendas. An underlying theme of thiswork is the contention that by taking local politics seriously, important insights can be8