Brachet Julien auteur aut IRD Scheele J. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access In January 2012, a new derde (traditional leader) of the Teda in northern Chad was officially appointed. Held in the Tibesti, a remote, notoriously unruly but strategically important part of the Sahara, the investiture ceremony was attended by Teda from throughout the country and neighboring Libya and Niger, as well as by an impressive number of Chadian civil servants and international diplomats. Yet the ceremony itself was short and messy. Similarly, the historical underpinnings of the institution of the derde and the selection process were unclear, leaving much room for debate. This uncertainty appears to lie at the heart of the institution of the derde. Far from a resurgence of traditional authority to make up for state failure or to partake in the restructuring of postcolonial states as observed elsewhere on the African continent the investiture ceremony confirmed the decentralized nature of Teda social organization and the absence of even attempted governance, both with regards to the Chadian state and local political institutions. What mattered from a local point of view were not long-term strategies of power and control, but rather the immediate and gloriously wasteful distribution of wealth. Admiring eyes were turned not toward the derde or the state officials who appointed him, but instead toward high-ranking military officers, well-dressed urban Libyan Teda, and trans-border smugglers, models of rapid but often short-lived success. This provides a counter example to the current emphasis on governance and power in the analysis of African states and politics. specialized TCHAD 114 57 3 723-752 2015 0010-4175 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010064766 10.1017/s0010417515000262 0010-4175 [F B010064766] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010064766 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2015/07/010064766.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2015-07-29 2017-08-23 fdi:010064766 fre