Can a state be considered as a constitutional and legal system only? In various places on the globe, many citizens ask for more. The existence of other systems of norms in non-western societies questions their influence on the Weberian State. The flourishing literature on the failings of Euro African states gave them not very gratifying names: fragile states, failed states… Many of these states are weakened more by the competition between several systems of norms than corruption. Questionable models –because they illustrate and demonstrate concepts such as patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism– have once and for all discredited local forms of governance, referred to as traditional. Their characterization as informal did not however prevent the colonial authorities and their successors from incorporating them, after having witnessed their effectiveness as sources of legitimacy, or for the purpose of ensuring the production and management of public goods. These institutions and practices of governance are often the product of a several-century-long political history. Without being overly laudatory, one can wonder to what extent they can contribute to setting up a durable democratic system in Africa and confirm Amartya Sen’s vison of a “democracy of others”.