Abstract
This is an analysis of the ritual interpretation of a political succession in which one person follows another (or him- or herself) in a role that is generally taken by the members of the society potently to symbolise the society as politically constituted. The words in parentheses in the previous sentence allow for the case in which someone serving in the role for a limited term is chosen to serve the next. In a political succession there are two elements: individual change (although sometimes only potential) and social continuity. During a political succession as defined above the rituals invoking sentiments in favour of it express human perceptions and feelings about social order in a structure of relations between the elements of the political succession and the rituals which take a universal form.
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Notes
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© 1987 Peter Calvert
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Potter, A.M. (1987). A Structural Analysis of Political Succession. In: Calvert, P. (eds) The Process of Political Succession. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08978-9_10
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