THE LEGITIMATION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY AND INSTITUTIONS BY ETHNIC ASSOCIATIONS IN THE ADAMAWA REGION OF CAMEROON

Abstract

In the 1990s, sub-Saharan African states got engaged in a decompression process with some long expected effects such as competitive elections, freedom of speech, and the development of individual and collective rights such as freedom of association for a better expression of citizenship. This liberalization did not only come along with the expected effects as it equally produced some perverse effects. This atmosphere favored the liberation of public space and the involvement of new actors in the political arena manifested through the appearance of diverse social movements (Monga, 1994, Kenmogne, 2002, Oyono and Temple 2003). One of such movements is the ‘Association’. In Cameroon, under the prism of the civil society, there is a wide range of associations and these associations vary from the religious to ethnic passing through community development associations with others mutating into pressure groups and political parties. Seen as representations of their different local communities (Gausset 2005), ethno-community associations have gradually imposed themselves in the political field to the extent of maintaining a stable and almost formal relationship with state authorities and institutions. While a number of authors see this existing relationship between the state and ethnic groups as an investment and a return on investment (Moluh, 2005, Posner 2005), others think that it is a one sided Instrumentalization from political entrepreneurs (Hogan and Feeney, 2013). Far from refuting these positions, this essay aim at demonstrating the role of associations in this political constituency which is that of the Adamawa region by insisting on the legitimation role of these ethnic associations.