In Enlightenment political thought, factions were viewed disapprovingly as small dissenting groups formed to advance particular persons or policies within formal political structures. Political anthropology has contributed to a broadening use of the concept as well as to its specific use as a technical term for a particular type of political organization within a cluster of similar, informal, political alignments.
Factions are fluid groups recruited opportunistically and ‘vertically’ by leaders to contest specific issues. They may cut across other forms of ‘horizontal’ cleavage within a society, such as those of class, religion or gender. Usually only two factions come into being around any one issue, breaking up when that issue is resolved. Anthropologists tend to view such cross-cutting formations favourably since cross-cutting ties encourage reconciliation. Yet the possibility exists that factional hostility might become permanently institutionalized and prolonged violence ensue.
Anthropologists conceptualize factionalism as simply one form of political organization on a continuum of action groups ranging through informal action sets, cliques, gangs, coalitions and interest groups to formal political parties. During the Cold War this perception contributed to the work of historians and political scientists charting leadership struggles within the communist parties of China and the Soviet Union.
Studies of factionalism have a long history in anthropology. In the nineteenth century, for example, fieldworkers from the Bureau of American Ethnology reported the emergence of factionalism among Native North Americans being settled on reservations. This revolved around whether they should retain their own traditions or accept modern ways. Jeremy Bois-sevain’s research in Malta provided a classic account of factionalism. In a detailed analysis (1974) of the beginning of factional rivalry over the introduction of a new cult in the village of Harrug he established several factors which relate to the structure, evolution, number and strategy of factions under conditions of political competition. Many excellent studies have been carried out on the Indian subcontinent where factionalism appears to be commonplace. Adopting a processual approach, observing individuals and groups in action over time, Indianist ethnographers found that factions were most prevalent in villages where there were many castes but with no one being dominant. Factionalism was thus a form of struggle among equals. Recently, though, radical historians have argued that the importance of factionalism has been exaggerated at the expense of ties of class, caste and community in writings on Indian political culture (Hardiman 1982).
Ethnography from many countries supports a contention that factions are contingent groupings based on competition over new resources. Development projects introduced new spoils into local political and economic arenas, and peasants adopted development discourse to establish and maintain factional divisions within their villages. Factionalism is, apparently, less likely to be an urban phenomenon. It has been suggested that factionalism became more common in some Third World societies when parliamentary electoral systems were introduced on the eve of independence.
