Participative Law-Making: A New Approach to Drafting Coope rative Law in Developing Countries*

Participative Law-Making : A New Approach to Drafting Cooperative Law in Developing

After independence the governments of the new states which had inherited the political institutions and the »modern« legal system from the former colonial powers continued to use law as an instrument for implementation of their development policy.The law-mak ing processes (at least in theory) remained largely the same and the persons belonging to the legal profession (sollicitors, barristers, judges and law-professors) continued to apply what they had learned du ring their training and professional career.2However, the objectives of government and, accordingly, the tasks of the law-makers changed.The policy now is to encourage development, to create social, economic, political and legal framework conditions which enable the citizens to pursue their own legitimate interests and to play their part in building up the country.

Special Features of Cooperative Law3
2.1.Cooperatives as a sp ecial fo rm of business organization Co operative societies are a special type of business organization.Their object is to promote the economic interests of their members on a self-help basis.This is not done primarily by distributing profit made in business transactions, but by rendering services to members near cost.4When making a co operative law the aim of the law-makers is to provide a legal frame work for economic and social activities of people, who wish to solve their own problems with their own means by way of organized self-help.During colonial times co operatives were mainly used as instruments to increase and improve the production of cash crops among •• progressive« farmers, to organize supply, credit and marketing for such producers5 and -on a sm aller scale -to organize savings and credit, distribution of consumer goods and housing for urban dwellers.Today co operatives and other self-help organization are promoted with a view to encourage development in a broader sense, i. e. to mobilize the masses of the population for participation with their own resources in their own development, to initiate changes in attitude and norms of behaviour, to introduce social, economic and technical innova tions, to replace traditional customs by new rules, e. g. changes -from oral to written communication, -from decision-making by consensus to majority vote, -fr om inequality of rights to equal rights, -from uncontrolled power of leadership to democratic control, -from the economy of affection (pooling and redistribution with solidarity limited to kinship groups) to organized group action based on economic considerations (reward in proportion to contribution).6 Co operative law has to stabilize self-help groups by providing official recognition of such group entities as bodies corporate, to regulate the activities within the co operative group and the business transactions of the co operative enterprise with members and third parties.The target population for such a law are people living both in the modern and in the so-called »informalH sector and co operatives are meant to be formed by the economically and socially weaker groups in both sectors, i. e. those who have pressing problems which they cannot solve alone but only jointly with other persons having similar problems.Hence, for co operative law to be effective it has to be understood and accepted by the target population as useful and appropriate to meet their feit needs.A good cooperative law has to create favourable framework conditions for setting the mechanism of self-help7 into action.In this regard, protection of co operative groups against unfair praetiees is of major importanee, while the offer of outside assistanee may be eounterproduetive and impeed rather than promote self-help.Only if the target population is eonvineed that the »newH eooperative law allows them to solve their problems in a better way than under their ��oldH eustomary rules, this law will become a »Iaw in aetionH, the provisions governing co operative societies will beeome new loeal eustom and the eooperative movement will turn into a popular movement.To aehieve this objeetive, the eoneept underlying the law has to be explained and under stood.A eooperative law has to avoid as mueh as possible the heavy teehnieal language of eonventional legal draftsmen, but has rather to be drafted in c1ear and simple terms, whieh ean be translated into national languages.For more easy eomprehension by non-Iawyers, the level of abstraetion should not be too high.Furthermore, the law has to be eomprehensive in the sense that the text is eomplete and can be understood without eross-referenees to other texts and doeuments.

Problems related to government-assisted cooperatives8
When the first co operative law in Asia was made by the British colonial government of India in 1904,9 the law-makers did not use the British legislation (Industrial and Provi dent Societies Act) as a model, but rather developed a new formula referred to by Surridge and DigbylO as the nClassical British-Indian Pattern of Cooperation« , creating a new legal framework for state-sponsored cooperatives.This type of law is still im ple mented in India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka and used as a model in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.By taking over the role of educator, promoter, auditor, arbitrator and liquidator with regard to co operatives, the influence of government on cooperatives was much greater that its influence on other forms of business organizations such as companies.What was originally meant to be temporary, self-Iiquidating government aid aimed at helping co operatives to be established among poor and inexperienced people, turned out later to become permanent state control over these organizationsY In this process cooperatives, wh ich are at least in theory conceived as private business organizations working for the benefit of their members, were turned at first in practice and later under the law into semi-public or public institutions with government support and under government control to implement governments' development policy.Although it is a well-known fact that voluntary member support for cooperatives can only be secured in the long run if promotion of members' own interests is given priority by co operative management and that goal-setting by the members themselves is a pre condition for turning a co operative society into an effective self-help organization,12 government reserves itself the right to set the goals for cooperative societies, to control their activities and to intervene into their day-to-day work on the grounds that those in receipt of government aid also have to accept government control.
Where the co operative law empowers government to guide, finance and control co opera tives, members usually try to make use of any benefits offered to them by the government through cooperatives, but refuse to participate actively with their own re sources in the cooperative society which they consider as a branch of government and not as their own organization.Hence, offi cilaziation, outside goal-setting and government control which do not allow cooperatives to work as autonomous private self-help organizations primarily for pursu ing the objects determined by their members and the obligation to operate like an institution under public law, can be identified as the main reasons for fa ilure of coopera tive projects, e. g. onesided stress on increase of production versus the desire to improve the socio-economic situation as a whole and to ga in self-management capabilities and access to economic (and political) power.Where cooperatives are perceived as private business organizations and interested per sons are allowed to organize themselves in cooperatives and other self-help organi zations, a certain degree of autonomy and flexibility of fr aming the by-laws of such organizations is required.This excluded for instance the im position of a nationwide uniform pattern for all cooperative organizations in one countryY The usefulness of a support system for cooperatives including audit, which protects members against fraud, embezzlement and exploitation and enhances their capacity to control their organization is obvious.However, such support system can also be used as a straitjacket, if it is combined with government control carried out by cooperative officers who beyond audit and advice te nd to interfere with matters of indoor manage ment.
To summarize this point: Government assistance and government control have turned co operative societies from private business organizations into semi-public or public institutions.Even though in the concept of co operation and in the original cooperative laws cooperatives are seen as organizations under private law, this theoretical concept has been abandonned gradually first in practice, later in the law.As a result, the current co operative legislation in developing countries is in many respects no longer in conformi ty with the concept of cooperation.

Law-making in Developing Countries14
3.1.Conventional process of la w-making A good and well-tested method of making a new or amending an existing law is to have a commission of experts and practicioners of the subject matter under consideration ap pointed by government, to ask them to study the situation and to write a report with recommendations.After submission and study of their report, government publishes a white paper with its views on the findlings and recommendations of the commission.After a public debate among interested groups and in the mass media on the report and the white paper an official statement of objects and reasons for the new law is published and one or several experts are recruited to draft a bill to be tabled in the legislative assembly.This bill is passed or rejected after a throurough debate.Good examples for this method in co operative legislation are the Indian Cooperative Credit Societies Act of 190415 and more recently Laidlaw's report to the government of Ceylon, 1970.16This method has the following merits: -It is based on a solid knowledge of facts, the pros and cons of proposed changes are discussed among experts and in public; the opinion of government is c1early expressed; government's policy and the concept underlying the new law are laid down in a written official statement.The problems with this method of law-making are that it is time-consuming and (relatively) expensive, it forces government to take a c1ear stand and demands of government to face public opinion in its legislative measures.

Short-cut to new legislation
Under the pressure of unsolved problems wh ich call for urgent action and the desire of politicians to achieve quick results, the conventional method of law-making is applied less and less.In order to implement government's policy quickly and without too much public debate, experts are called upon to draft new laws in collaboration with government officia1s within a short period of time, which usually exludes extensive empirical research.Where no qualified specialists can be found in the country, foreign experts are recruited with the help of foreign donor agencies.Such experts usually work in seclusion with a sm all advisory committee.They are empowered to conduct hearings with representatives of the groups of the pouplation which will be affected by the new law, but have to avoid too much publicitiy.Drafts are considered confidential until approved by high political authorities or adopted by the legislative body.Such laws are often based on theoretical concepts, devised to implement development goals set by government, making use of experience gained elsewhere and sometimes even copy models developed in other countries under diffe rent socio-economic conditions and a diffe rent legal system.The shortcomings of such short-cut to new legislation are obvious, but in many develop ing countries the political authorities responsible for national development feel that they cannot afford to apply slow and costly methods of law-making and do not want to provoke too much public discussion of their development plans.

Problems of la w-making in developing countries17
When studying the problems of law-making in developing countries four fu ndamental problem areas can be identified: (a) Limited innovative fo rce of law-making This problem exists due to lack of research capacity required for an in-depth analysis of existing socio-economic structures and development trends wh ich could be casted into new authentic legal provisions.Furthermore, conservative legal draftsmen are reluctant to break new grounds.On the other hand law-makers wish to be nmodern« and to meet international standards.They are more ready to adopt foreign models and to accept advice of foreign experts than to rely on local experience and advice or to develop their own authentic solutions.

(b) Lack of clear and realistic policy
In an age of rapid development, often time and effort to arrive at a clear definition of the objects and reasons of a new law at the highest political level are not invested and accordingly, there is open or disguised lack of agreement on the concept underlying a new law, on the modes of implementation and on the contents of the law.This danger exists especially where laws or amendments of laws are made under time pressure to meet political deadlines, where laws are made without direct consultation of the people affected by the new law, where there is no official statement of government's policy on the subject matter and no public discussion of the concept underlying the new law and the draft of the law.This may result in inconsistencies or discrepancies and in ca se of amended laws it happens that amendments are made under a concept different from the one underlying the original Act.
(c) Ineffective laws Often laws are made for political reasons or are based on theoretical considerations without too much concern ab out their practical applicability.Such laws have become known as ))phantom laws« or ))Iaws on the books« as opposed to ))Iaws in action«.18(d) Legal social engineering Governments try to use law as an instrument for social engineering, but do not take the measures which have been found to be essential for a law meant to be a development tool.According to the findings of research workers studying the effect oflaw on develop menP9 such a Hdevelopment law« having as its object to change the present situation and to bring ab out new conditions for development have to meet certain requirements in order to become effective: -It has to combine permanent norms with transitional provisions, which are intended to remain in force only until such time when the desired change has taken effect and will then be replaced by new provisions made to meet new conditions and re quirements; it has to tell the citizens, wh at they should do and what they should avoid; it has to define the role of government in the development process; it has to be written in dear, easily understandable language, with a level of abstraction within reach of the target population; it has to provide for an implementation machinery, which makes it possible to bring the law to the people, to make it known, to administer the law and to protect those applying the law.

Shortcomings of Current Cooperative Legislation
Many co operative laws in the Asian region suffer from the shortcomings described earlier in this paper.Some countries still use legislation developed during British colo nial administration.Where new legislation was made (e. g. in the Philippines in 197320 and in Indonesia in 196721 the principal Act is covered by a cobweb of regulations, circulars and administrative orders, so that co operatives are no longer governed by the co operative law but rather by administrative regulations interpreting the law in such numbers that it is impossible for the ordinary citizen and even difficult for the expert to know about all of them.22 Processes of political bargaining and power struggle have brought about confusion of orgininally dear concepts by granting exemptions from basic provisions of the law and by providing special conditions for powerful groups. In most countries applying the concept of state-sponsored cooperation there are prob lems of implementation.In practice and under cooperative law government powers over co operatives have been increased steadily, however, there has not been a similar increase in staff and funds to implement such legislation.External audit of co operatives by a government audit service is a case in point.23 In the new co operative law of Singapore of 197924 efforts have been made to put some of the ideas on ))development law« into practice.

The concept
Usually laws are made by specialists for a certain target group.If conventional methods of law-making are applied, representatives of the target group are invited to express their views at some stage of the process (committee of enquiry, hearing, lobby, mass media).
The persons for whom the law is made normally do not participate actively in the law-making process.They are supposed to make use of the law, to apply its provisions in practice and to play roles assigned to them under the law.This kind of relationship can be described as »passive participation«.Even for this passive participation the persons concerned have to know the provisions of the law and the rules assigned to them under the law, before they can apply such provisions or play such role.Whether the circum stances allow them to do this and whether they are prepared so to do is still another question.

On ineffectiveness of laws in developing countries26
As pointed out earlier in this paper cooperative law is directed to target groups operating both in the »modern« and in the »informal« sector.In all countries of the Asian region there are autochthonous mutual aid organizations based on kinship or village groups, wh ich exist side by side with » modern« imported models of self-help organizations in the form of cooperatives, farmers' organizations or fa rmers' associations.In other words, for large parts of the population autochthonous rules and norms of behaviour and modern written legislation governing socio-economic group activities exist parallel to each other.
Experience has shown that new »imported« laws remain largely ineffective because of some or all of the following reasons: -Lack of knowledge of the law, especially if it is written in a foreign language and/or in complicated technical terms, if the texts are unavailable to the target population and / or if the target population is illiterate; -rejection of the new law for reasons of incompatibility with the autochthonous value system and norms of behaviour; -lack of implementation machinery.Bryde27 in his writings on law in developing countries distinguishes four ideal types of problem constellations with regard to ineffectiveness of new laws: (a) In remote areas, which for geographical or other reasons are cut off from national development efforts, the new la ws are not known and not applied.In such areas people continue to live according to their autochthonous rules.The new law is ineffective, but this ineffectiveness does not cause any damage.(b) In rural areas where the masses of the population are living within their traditional social organizations, the new laws are widely unknown and often not adjusted to prevailing conditions, while the autochthonous legal structures are still more or less intact and applied.In this constellation the new laws are officially in force.Yet, only a small group of individuals who are familiar with the modern law can use the provisions ofthe new law to their advantage (accidental application ofthe new law).
In this case, the new law is generally ineffective, but still effective enough to cause injustice.(c) In urban areas among the larger part of the population not belonging to the elites, the non-adapted modern law is officially in force but not known to the people and not effective for solving social conflicts.The autochthonous legal structures are in different stages of decay under the influences of »modernization« and accordingly also ineffective.Therefore, this large group practically lives without an effective legal system in a state of lawlessness.
(d) Among the modernized groups living in the urban centres (e. g. the elites living in the modern sector, upper level salary earners, staff of government agencies, modern enterprises and international organizations) the new laws are applied and relatively effective.For cooperative law the main target groups are the large groups described under (b) and (c) above.The vast majority of co operatives are working in an environment, where autochthonous rules are still predominant and where the knowledge and effectiveness of the new »imported« cooperative laws are weak.In the rural areas, where autochthonous social structures are still relatively strong and effective, it may be necessary to develop hybrid fo rms of self-help organizations, com bining elements of autochthonous mutual aid groups and modern self-help organi zations,28 while in the urban informal sector, where the autochthonous rules have lost their impact or are difficuIt to enforce due to lack of effective social control, it is of vital importance to fill the legal vacuum and to develop new rules for self-help organizations.However, these rules have to be adapted to local conditions, have to be known to the local people (written in a language which they can understand) and have to be accepted by the local people as being useful, before they can become effective.

The process -seven steps of participative la w-making29
The proposed method of participative law-making tries to overcome some of the major impediments to effectiveness of »new« cooperative legislation by taking the law-making process to the target population, by giving the target population and all other interested parties the chance to participate actively in the lawmaking process, to express their views on the ways in which they would be prepared to work together in cooperatives and other self-help organizations for their own benefit and -indirectly -for the benefit of the country as a whole.Participative law-making is based on an intensive programme of dialogue with the target population on their views on development and on government's development policy, an intensive research on framework conditions to understand the problems, constraints and possibilities of self-help activities under prevailing circumstances and a free flow of information.It is a time-consuming, cumbersome and expensive process.But on the other hand, participative law-making has c1ear advantages over other methods of law-making: such programme creates a common basis of understanding, brings about agreement on lead ing ideas for the proposed new legislation and last but not least has an immense educa-tive effect.People start to think of a new law as their own set of rules, which will influence their living and working conditions in the future.Thus, the new law can be based on consensus of the people concerned rather than on a theoretical design.The process of participative law-making can be subdivided into seven steps: (1) Dialogue with target population Group discussions and workshops on day-to-day problems of cooperative work have to be organized by a team of promoters at village and district level to identify the practical problems of the target population and how they are perceived by the local people, to find out what people think about government's policy regarding cooperative development and how they feel cooperatives should be promoted.The target population as a pool of resource persons is asked to make recommendations.
(2) Evaluation oJ results oJ dialogue The promoters have to analyse the findings of group discussions at the grassroots' level, bring the recommendations coming from the target population in a logical order and supplement these recommendations with the results of research into prevailing frame work conditions and relate them to the government's views on cooperative development.The result of this work should be a document defining a suitable policy concerning co operative development which could be circulated among all interested parties.
(3) Statement oJ objects and reasans Jo r the new law On the basis of this semi-official document a statement of objects and reasons for the new co operative law can be drafted.However, this should not be done in seclusion, a first draft should be circulated for comments and fu rther recommendations to be incorpo rated into a second draft which should be discussed in a national seminar with repre sentatives of the cooperative movement, of government and other interested organi zations.Agreement on the statement of objects and reasons would mean approval of the concept underlying the new cooperative legislation.
(4) First draJt oJ new law Once there is agreement on the concept, a specialist for cooperative legislation with one or several counterparts can elaborate a first draft of the new law in collaboration with a consultative committee.
(5) Discussion oJ first draJt The first draft of the new law should again be circulated among all interested parties for discussion, critique and recommendations.All comments and suggestions received by the authority in charge of making the new law should be compiled in a report to serve as background material for a national seminar on co operative law.
(6) National seminar on cooperative la w Representatives of cooperatives, government and all interested institutions should be invited to a national seminar on co operative law for discusssion and adoption of a second draft of the law.During this seminar a debate on the concept and general methods of implementation should be followed by discussion section by section of the draft and the draft with eventual amendments should be approved as a whole.
(7) Prom ulgation The approved second draft of the law, after veUing by legal draftsmen, can be tabled in the legislative body and channelled through the legislative process to be promulgated.

Advantages and !im itations of participative la w-making
As compared to the conventional law-making process and the technocratic short-cut to new legislation, participative law-making has the advantage of directly involving the target population in the development of a concept of cooperation and in the definition of government's role in promoting cooperatives .This may not be necessary or even suitable in more technical areas of law, where experts are called upon to propose a set of framework conditions for the life of the citizens which the policy-makers and the law makers then cast into law and compliance with which will be enforced by an effective machinery for implementation (e. g. company law, banking law).In other fields having a direct bearing on the day-to-day life of the masses of the population (e. g. fa mily law, cooperative law) where the provisions of the law will only become effective, if they are voluntarily accepted and applied by the target population as new local custom, it is essential for the law-makers to seek consensus with the target population on the leading ideas and even on details of the new law.In countries having parallel (autochthonous and »modernH) legal systems -where the law-makers have to chose whether to opt for one of these systems or to combine elements of both in a process of authentic law-making and -where the new law is supposed to become the legal framework of a popular movement, affecting the living and working conditions of the masses of the popu lation both in the »informalH sector and in the »mOdernH sector, it is an indispensable precondition for the effectiveness of the new law that it corresponds to the needs and aspirations of the target population, that it is within reach and com prehension of the ordinary citizen, that it takes account of the current norms and value systems, constraints and social obligations of the individual and grants autonomy where diverging local customs and needs militate against uniform regulation.The approach of participative law-making gives law-makers an opportunity to know how these maUers are perceived by the target population and to frame the new law accordingly.To involve the target population in the law-making process has strong pedagogical and psychological effects.The citizens start to perceive the new law as something real, affecting their own lives, they start to see legal provisions as something useful, enabling them to do certain things with the protection of the law, offering them new patterns of organizing their social and economic relations with others.However, participative law-making has as a precondition that the government of the respective country is prepared to allow public discussion on government's policy and popular participation in political debate.Without a minimum of democratic rights, relatively free flow of information and readiness of the citizens to express their views, participative law-making cannot bring positive results.Repressive, authoritarian govt:rnments will not even consider or allow this approach to law-making to be applied.Furthermore, participative law-making can only be effective, if the opinions and recom mendations expressed by the target population are seriously taken into consideration by government.This means that changes of attitude among the law-makers are required.The view of the small-scale farmer, worker, craftsman as being ignorant and unable to express reasonable ideas on his own affairs has to be abandoned .The citizen at the grassroots' level has to be accepted as the specialist for survival under difficult socio-eco nomic conditions who has c1ear views especially of his needs, his priorities and his capa city to take risks.

Conclusion
The lesson learned during the last 30 years of technical assistance is that development efforts have to start from the needs of the population.In ca se co operatives are seen as private business organizations for the promotion of the economic and social needs of their members and not as semi-public or public institutions serving as development tools in the hands of government, this means that the decision to form or join a co operative society, goal-setting for and management of cooperatives, choice of leadership and control, should be left to the members of such organizations.For many decades, state-sponsored and state-controlled co operatives have created the image of the co operative society as an inefficient, stagnant, often corrupt institution with largely nominal membership, minimizing active participation and resource commit ment, as branches of government distributing certain goods and offering certain services and subsidies on behalf of government but without taking roots among the people.Ambitious (and often unrealistic) goals set for co operatives by development planners have led to overregulation, overpromotion and overintervention, thus bringing the coop eratives even further away from the peop1e whom they should serve.The approach of participative law-making could offer an opportunity to break the deadlock of steadily increasing government's intervention and control on the one hand and indiffe rence, apathy or distrust of nominative membership vis-a-vis ntheir« coopera tives on the other, and to come to a new start, where cooperatives are seen again primarily as private business organizations of their members, where a c1ear line is drawn between government controlled public welfare programmes and programmes for pro-moting the development of self-managed, self-financed and self-controlled cooperatives, serving first and foremost the interests of their members and thereby contributing in directly to the overall development ofthe country.In dialogue with the target population it will be possible to identify areas where government aid is necessary and welcome and measures of government intervention and control wh ich are met with distrust.Participative law-making means to go to some extent back to the conventional method of making laws in a long process spread over years with thourough discussion on concept, details and format of the new law.The innovation of the proposed new approach is to develop the concept of the new law and the decision on the choice between autochthonous rules, »modern law« and hybrid fo rms composed of elements of both systems in dialogue with the target population.What is needed for this process apart from the approval of the government authorities is: -Time for group discussions at all levels and for research into the prevailing socio-economic framework conditions, a team of dynamic promoters and research workers in charge of organizing group discussions, workshops and seminars as weil as conducting research, funds to finance salary, travel and per diem of the promoters and research workers, cost of organizing discussion groups, workshops and seminars and expenditure for producing, printing and disseminating information.Where the necessary funds are not available, foreign aid organizations could step in by providing funds to recruit and to equip a team of promoters and research workers and/or to allow the team of promoters/research workers to travel and to operate at various levels in all parts ofthe country, to provide one or several local or foreign experts to act as resource persons and to contribute the technical know-how of drafting legal texts.Such contribution of a foreign aid organization could help to overcome the prob lem of financing the relatively expensive law-making process, but the foreign aid organi zations should keep as much as practicable away from carrying out the work.Time, political backing and manpower has to be provided by the respective country itself.This approach of participative law-making can bring about an authentie, solid and durable legal framework which is known to and accepted by the target population.Such law based on dialogue and research into local conditions would be solid and lasting in the sense that it does not depend on the views of one person or of a few persons (e. g. a foreign expert or a minister) but would be based on the joint effort of the people concerned, a law of the people rather than fo r the people.30After a short introduction to the problems of law and development in countries having parallel (autochthonous and imported) legal systems and the identification of cooperati ve law as a special field of legislation, where the requirements of the target populations both in the informal and in the »modern« sector ofthe economy have to be met, different forms of law-making in developing countries are reviewed: the conventional process of law-making, administrative short-cuts to new legislation and a proposed new form of participative law-making.The shortcomings of current cooperative legislation are discussed against the back ground of general problems of law-making in developing countries.The proposed participative approach to making new laws by ta king the law-making pro cess to the target population may help to solve the problem of ineffectiveness of »mo dern« laws in developing countries.In the main part of the paper the concept of partici pative law-making and a seven-step process of implementation are described and sugges tions are made how this new approach to law-making in a field of law affecting the so cio-economic conditions of the masses of the population can be carried out with the help of fo reign aid organizations.

ABSTRACTS
Participative Law-Making: A New Approach to Drafting Cooperative Law in Developing Countries By Hans-H.Münkner

Traditional
Rulers and the Operation or Local Administration in the Republic or Benin By S. Bamidele Ayo The role of Traditional Rulers in government at the local level has recently generated much academic debate.There are advocates of fo rmal politico-administrative roles for Traditional Rulers in the management of local affairs; on the other hand there are those who believe that Traditional Rulers have outlived their usefulness and as such have no thing to contribute to the business of local government.This laUer group has even advo cated the abrogation of the institution of Traditional Rulership in Africa.This paper examines the attitudes of successive governments in the Republic of Benin to the institution of Traditional Rulership, particularly their role in the operation of grass root administrative machineries.According to the analysis in the paper, fo rmal partici pation of Traditional Rulers in local Administration in the Republic of Benin ended with