Final answer:
Tribes/clans were independent of the central power, maintaining autonomy in their internal affairs without interference from the central authority.
Step-by-step explanation:
The relationship between tribes/clans and central power was such that the tribes/clans were largely independent of the central power. They were autonomous in their decisions, and the central authority did not interfere with their internal affairs, allowing them to manage their own resources, engage in their own conflicts, and drift in and out of larger tribal confederations as their needs dictated. This level of autonomy suggests that the tribes/clans were not subordinate to, controlled by, or consistently in conflict with central power, but rather operated independently alongside it.