Resumen

IZQUIERDO Y DE LA CUEVA, Ana Luisa. Unidad y fragmentación del poder entre los mayas. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2004, vol.25, pp.57-76. ISSN 0185-2574.

Beyond other interpretations of prehispanic Maya government systems (centralized or democratically decentralized, according with most opinions), this articles tries to explain anient Maya political organization in terms of segmentary states with conical clans integration. Kinship was the axis of this kind of power structure, where authority was centralized in one person, who shared some of his power with the lineage chiefs, according with social hierarchies. The elites, headed by the supreme ruler, took the decisions, letting the lineages chiefs of several social levels to accomplish them.