Tribal chief

A tribal chief, chieftain or headman is a political leader of a social group commonly described as a tribe, clan, band or confederation of tribes. A chief authority varies widely by society and context, and in many cases depends on consensus and customary legitimacy rather than coercive power. In anthropology, terms such as tribe, chief and chiefdom have been used in comparative models of sociopolitical organization, though the analytic use of tribe has also been widely criticized as imprecise and historically burdened. In some contemporary states, forms of chiefly authority are formally recognized or regulated by constitutions and statutes.