We need a better word than 'tribe'

"In Benghazi and other towns, according to accounts on social-networking websites, demonstrators chanted, "The people demand the removal of the regime!" — the same chants that rallied protesters in successful revolutions inTunisia and Egypt. But unlike those two north African nations, Libya is a tribal society. The army and security services are structured on tribal loyalties, making it less likely that the military will take the nonconfrontational approach of Egypt's professionally trained army.

Meanwhile, in Sana, the Yemeni capital, 11 members of parliament withdrew from President Saleh's ruling party, and several government officials in the city of Taizz resigned over the weekend in moves that may indicate a sea change in the nation's political unrest...The resignations come at a time when Saleh faces renewed opposition from within his own tribe, the powerful Hashid Confederation, and from the national political opposition coalition."

Band, Tribe, Chiefdom, State. Teaching Intro to Cultural, Elman Service's schema from the 1960s still has its utility for introducing students to the ways in which several cultural features travel together, even though (IMHO) it requires annotation and modification lest it lead them down too simplified a path. But out there in the real world? I think the term muddies the waters of political analysis when we are talking about modern societies and their conflicts.

Given that I am about as far from a Middle East/Islamic/Arabic expert as one can get and still have the balls to comment on the subject, I cannot say which anthropologists (I am sure there are some) have revisited the issue of kin-based corporate societies in places like Afghanistan or, as the LA Times says, Libya and Yemen. If they are out there, I would love to have you comment here about what word or short descriptor you might offer in place of tribe; or perhaps you think tribe is perfectly adequate! Please let me know....