The post-colonial State and economic and political reforms in Cameroon

This study shows that the neoliberal project propagated in the 1990s by the Western donors and the international financial institutions has not yet made much progress in Cameroon. It argues that this is not surprising, given the class character of the Cameroonian postcolonial State. The limited political reforms introduced by the Biya regime in 1990, especially the legalization of multipartyism, seem not to have stimulated economic liberalization, but rather to have further eroded the authoritarian and patrimonial State's capacity and willingness to undertake economic reforms. The experience of Cameroon suggests that there is no automatic linkage between political and economic liberalization. [ASC Leiden abstract]