Traditional Political Institutions of Nagaland: A Study of the Lotha Nagas

Abstract

 The system of democratic governance and administration, which is generally viewed as a product of western political evolution has long been in existence in an unrivalled form among the various exotic tribal groups of the Nagas even prior to the British colonisation of the Naga Hills. The village being a single administrative unit, unfettered and unrestrained by any outside forces, can be compared to a modern state. It had its own democratic administrative mechanism, headed by an elected chief and his associates.

The study is an attempt to reconstruct and examine the various traditional political institutions of the Lotha-Nagas, and also to gain an insight to their traditional lifestyles.