Tribus, factions et État: Les conflits de succession dans l'émirat de l'Adrar

Tribes, factions and State: succession conflicts in the emirate of Adrar.- A study of the conflicts arising on the emirs' succession sheds light on the nature of the emirate's political organisation. There is no devolution rule but for the fact that the emir needs belong to the Ahel 'Ethmân lineage. On an emir's death, in order to ensure his succession, the relations between the politically dominant Hassân tribes and the emirate have to be reproduced under the guise of factions in support of the various pretenders. The emirate turns itself into a State when segmentary factions no longer develop within the framework of kinship and affinity, while power becomes centralized with a hierarchy of political relations linking together groupe with different statuses. An analysis of oral tradition concerning the succession of the three first emirs, 'Ethmân, Sîdî Ahmed and Ahmed 'Aydda shows how the evolution of political structures was affected by this transformation.