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Despite its long history, the role and meaning of royal gift-giving during the age of empire is still a matter of some controversy. Via an investigation of rival theories of the nature of the gift, this article scrutinises the practice of gift-giving between monarchs within the German Empire. Specifically, it examines how relations between Kaiser Wilhelm II, King Njoya of Bamum and King Kabua of the Marshall Islands were framed by the mutual exchange of gifts. Precisely how these gifts were received and reciprocated demonstrates that colonial-era royal relations did not reflect a strong monarchical prerogative. Nonetheless, royal exchanges did offer important opportunities for the assertion of political claims and counterclaims within an imperial framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on political electoral campaigning in a given town in Cameroon. The intention is to bring about a deeper understanding of the nature of ‘democracy’ and its implications for political power sharing and accountability in a given locality in Africa. Based on extensive field research, interviews and participative observation the empirical data gathered are analysed with references to recent academic approaches on democratic developments in Africa. The article discusses concrete ways politicians use to convince potential voters to vote for their party in relation to theories of gift-giving and symbolic capital. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]