This article discusses the ambivalent status of local authorities in postcolonial state building in Timor‐Leste. We deploy two sets of empirical data to analyse the role ambiguity plays in particular power dynamics: the East Timorese legislation on community authority, and ethnographic descriptions of a local form of conflict resolution at the village level. The ethnographic analysis points to the fact that local authorities see themselves and are seen by villagers as state representatives. However, the legal framework may be seen as an effort by the Timorese national authority to detach itself from local leaders, but it does so ambiguously. While the state positions local authorities as community representatives of the people it also assigns them an increasing number of functions over time, many of which would be elsewhere considered state responsibilities. We argue that this ambiguity plays a vital role in a long‐term strategy to legitimise the state by appropriating local elements of political culture. That being so, local governance complexes are used to transpose and internalise modern practices and projects of social organisation and subjectivation, although they tend to be considered by many as longstanding cultural institutions.

中文翻译：

---

含糊不清地玩：后殖民东帝汶的地方权力的建立与失败

本文讨论了东帝汶后殖民时期国家建设中地方当局的矛盾地位。我们部署了两组经验数据来分析歧义在特定权力动态中所起的作用：东帝汶人关于社区权威的立法，以及对村庄一级当地解决冲突形式的人种学描述。人种学分析指出，地方当局将自己视为自己，并被村民视为国家代表。但是，法律框架可能被视为帝汶国家当局与地方领导人分离的一种努力，但是这样做的含义是模棱两可的。虽然州政府将地方当局定位为人民的社区代表，但随着时间的推移，地方当局还赋予他们越来越多的职能，其中许多将在其他地方视为国家责任。我们认为，这种歧义在通过使政治文化中的本地元素合法化来使国家合法化的长期战略中起着至关重要的作用。既然如此，尽管许多地方政府往往将它们视为长期存在的文化机构，但它们仍被用来置换和内部化社会组织和主观化的现代实践和项目。