Ethel M. Albert

Socio-Political Organization and Receptivity to Change: Some Differences Between Ruanda and Urundi

HE NEIGHBORING African kingdoms of Ruanda and Urundi are so similar in many respects that they appear, when viewed from afar, to be virtually identical in all but minor details. However, those who know both countries well, recognizing that Ruanda nd Urundi are more like each other than is either like any other culture, report impressions of several kinds and degrees of difference. The differences t nd to be cumulative and to determine a cleavage that is most pronounced in respect to socio-political organization and related behavior. An indication ofthe characteristics of the countries and the peoples will be given as background to description of the traditional political and social organization-of the feudal structures, the kingships, the caste-like social system in relation to political structures, and relevant details of the kinship system. Point by point comparison should reveal the extent of structural similarities and the nature of the differences. An analytic model will then be proposed to account for observed differences of political behavior in response to uniform influences from the Belgian trusteeship government, in terms of the differences noted in traditional socio-political organization.