The people of the islands never fully ceded their independence, even in the face of German, American, and British battleships. Western Samoa is now officially a consititutional democracy within the United Nation. Nonetheless, it remains a regime with a sort of inherited "senate" composed of (male) village chiefs, who appoint a figurehead "superchief/king" in a kind of non-inherited "monarchy". All major issues are discussed at the village council of prominent men, and issues not resolved locally are transferred to the "national assembly". (Nonetheless, women's groups operate very effectively in various informal ways....) [And quite frankly, "western/european" categories are inadequate here!--and I am totally "out of my depth" after only a couple of weeks on the islands!--but I hope to have conveyed some sense of social organization in reporting my relationship with Tula...] Most appropriately, the national parliament building architechturally represents the traditional round village fale.....a reaffirmation of Samoan traditions!