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Firstly, the very fishbone of the clientelistic structures and especially the identity of the actors who fulfil the role of the structures articulatory vertebrae. [1] Each region is headed by a presidentially appointed governor. Only about 90 of them are not RDPC registered members, mainly because they continue to be active in the military or in the justice system, in spite of the formal but rarely enforced interdiction to do so. Within this article, we aim at exploring the topic of clientelism in Cameroon as a species of a wider phenomenon affecting Central and Western Francophone Africa. On an even more pragmatic note, a FG4 participant quoted the former Prime Minister Achidi Achu when saying that politics na ndjangui [politics is a tontine]" (W.M., member of a local party committee in the Littoral). The Cameroon federation: Political integration in a fragmentary society. R Regions of Cameroon (12 C, 2 F) Retrieved from "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Subdivisions_of_Cameroon&oldid=309455327" Categories: Political geography of Cameroon Country subdivisions by country Country subdivisions in Africa Non-topical/index: Uses of Wikidata Infobox Uses of Wikidata Infobox with no image Oxford Review of Economic Policy 25 (2): 292305. 1135). These practices lost their immediacy because of the scale-effect of the new national frameworks and created increasingly diffuse, sophisticated and difficultly readable wider patron-client systems. The first argument concerning the role of the Creatures as agents of clientelistic relationships articulation and structures mobilization was widely validated throughout the discussions of all the four FGs. With some remarkable exceptions (such as Lemarchand 1972), fewer papers concentrate on clientelism in the semi-authoritarian regimes, where real alternatives to power have never happened since the 1960s independence, as it is the case in Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Togo and Cameroon. government) data about all of Cameroons subdivisions and the number of inhabitants in each (ie. 2006. Politique africaine 104 (4): 1837. Inequality, polarization and poverty: Advances in distributional analysis. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00188-y, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00188-y. Unpublished manuscript. This happened on the expenses of the locally dispersed and more autonomous clientelistic groups that were either included in or smashed by the pyramidal Creatures structured. Paris: LHarmattan. Political clientelism and ethnicity in tropical Africa: Competing solidarities in nation-building. PubMedGoogle Scholar. And, unlike Creswells methods, we took less into account the focus groups dynamics, except for those situations in which the participants lacked a precise opinion on certain relevant aspects and the FG experiment made them form some views as a result of their interactions with the other FG participants. The divisions are listed below, by province. The Special gift of the President of the Republic to 360 subdivisions of Cameroon has been officially dispatched to the regions. It is famous for glass art, bottles, and windows. Paul Biya, has decided to offer a Special Gift to the 360 Subdivisions of the . Nowadays, the economy is dominated by small farms which have grown by exporting crops since colonial times. 7100+ Downloads. Seen from this perspective, the Cameroonian case of clientelism could be used not as central-pivotal model but rather as an extreme yardstick that delineates the frontier between two kinds of mobilization: the semi-authoritarian but formally pluralist-electoral one and the dictatorial plebiscite-like variant of popular conscription. Some chieftains themselves may directly play the roles of local party leaders or may wish to claim such functions, reversing in this way the patron-client relations and thus blurring even more the distinctions between organizational and electoral clientelism (Blundo et al. Based on a prior systematic research (Micoiu and Kakdeu 2019), we identified several categories of Creatures. Toyin Falola and Emmanuel M.. Mbah, 119. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. I want to know the official names of all of them and the number of people living in each. We used a two-part scenario: the first part was common to all the three FGs, while the second was specific to FG1 and, respectively to the last three FGs, targeting relevant issues, such as the particular understandings of the Creatures status and the real impact on determining the electoral behaviour of the local electorates or the capacity of the FG participants to mobilize resources and voters. Given the underemployment rate of people aged 15 and over at 69.6% (INS 2016, 147) and a poverty rate of 37.5% in 2014 (INS 2016, 66), the battle of social climbing is tough. Personne dentre nous nest important, nous ne sommes que ses serviteurs, mieux, ses esclaves. Secondly, Cameroon has a centralized and hierarchical administrative organization. We resorted to a two-layered analysisthat of the individual views, observations and motivations, on one hand; and that of the groups dynamics and its influence on the individuals opinions on the issues in discussion, on the other hand. Vicente, Pedro C., and Lonard. Le processus de dmocratisation en Afrique, le cas du Cameroun. Yaound: Imprimerie Nationale. Jeune Afrique. The structural role of the Creatures in the articulation and in the functioning of the clientelistic structures did not make the object of a consensus. Vietnam and the Philippines) or the former Soviet space (e.g. Olivierde Sardan, eds. 2009. Among the key dimensions explored in literature, some relevant analyses focused on the cultural differentiations within the worldwide phenomenon of clientelism (Briquet and Sawicki 1998), leading to local, regional, national or civilizational specificities of the patron-client networks (Gans-Morse et al. The divisions are further sub-divided into sub-divisions (arrondissements) and districts. Comprendre les partis et les systmes de partis africains: Entre modles et recherches empiriques. Les systmes politiques prcoloniaux au Cameroun. 2006. Lconomie morale de la corruption en Afrique. 2005. Hilgers, Tina, ed. London: Routledge. Thus, who belongs to a political party in a particular moment and who does what within that party can be changed by decisions taken by the top-hierarchy: potent local businessmen and religious or traditional leaders are permanently co-opted in the parties, often invited to take over local or regional branches and might be removed with the same haste (Carbone 2006; Souar 2017). If someone is using slang words and phrases when talking to me, would that be disrespectful and I should be offended? Paris: Karthala. Prsidentielle au Cameroun: Paul Biya donn vainqueur par des chiffres rejets par lopposition. At the same time, studying clientelism and other related practices in Sub-Saharan Africa proves to be revealing for the general understanding of this phenomenon. Acta Politica In Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy, ed. Consequently, after the Independence, Cameroon became initially a federation, with two widely autonomous pillars (Johnson 1970, pp. Elections for sale: The causes and consequences of vote buying. Bayart, Jean-Franois. In Democracy, clientelism, and civil society, ed. Being also fully aware of the notoriety of the concept of Creature, some of the FG4 participants, while admitting that they militate in a rather politically hostile environment (especially in Douala, the second largest city in Cameroon and an opposition stronghold), believe that the proliferation of the idea that the RDPC is led by some presidential super-appointees (the Creatures), while the opposition leaders are widely elected by the citizens of the region, hinders the capacity of the local party organizations to locally entrench the Presidents discourse (Y.S., party local official in Littoral). Siegel, David. Owona, Joseph. Instead, because of the complexity of the still traditional societal configurations, they have to persuade the relevant chieftains who control at their turn the votes of the traditional community leaders and the heads of wider families (Lemarchand 1972, pp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 102112; Lindberg and Morrison 2008, pp. 522). 120; Falola and Mbah 2014, pp. evolution of vegetation activity measured in each of the 360 subdivisions of Cameroon . Neopatrimonialism in Africa and Beyond. Journal de la Facult des lettres et sciences humaines Sais-Fs. The adaptation we made consisted in a stronger insistence on the individual level, which is more relevant for depicting the reasons behind the members own understandings of the political situation and their participation to Biyas campaigns, including in some occasions active lobbying and direct conditioning of the future financial support for certain field agents and elected officials. Thus, after taking power in 1982, Paul Biya had toured the country to be initiated and ended up by being named Nnom Ngui [Chief of Chiefs] in his region of origin (Kpwang 2011, pp. The public administration is politicized and openly campaigns for the RDPC, while the entire electoral apparatus is under its control. Subdivisions of Cameroon - Wikipedia It only takes a minute to sign up. Scott, J.C. 1972. These are headed by presidentially appointed divisional officers ( prfets ), who perform the governors' duties on a smaller scale. (Roniger 1994, pp. Consequently, while not denying the existence of the Creatures, they would prefer them to vanish from the regional public conscience, as the effects of their presence are sometimes contrary to their intentions (M.E., RDPC regional communication advisor in Littoral). The members of FG1 were naturally much more convinced that the label Creature was fit to symbolically describe the status and the features of Paul Biyas key-appointees. I know that Cameroon is divided into 10 regions, which are in turn divided into departments, which are in turn divided into communes, which in turn consist of villages, and even neighborhoods have their names. Aly Dieng, Amady. Sy, Alpha Amadou. 2015. United Councils and Cities of Cameroon (official but incomplete), Village Dictionary of Donga-Mantung Division (official but neither current nor complete), Joshua Project (inofficial and neither current nor complete). Authoritarian clientelism: the case of the presidents creatures in Cameroon. Micoiu, Sergiu, and Kakdeu, Louis-Marie. It goes from the traditional chiefdoms to the regions passing by the subdivisions and the divisions, respectively. The FG1 semi-contradictory debates finally led to the consensual analysis according to which there were at least three situations: (a) the Creatures had (some) real influence over resource distribution and tried to keep their promises by exerting influence in favour of their local and/or regional clientele; (b) the Creatures presumably had some real influence but deceived their clientele and did not honour the promises made in exchange of electoral support; (c) the Creatures had no influence on resource allocation and their promises proved to be vain. If we add the 3 members appointed by presidential decree in this chambers bureau also, we reach a total of 96 Creatures in the Senate. #COVID19: President Paul Biya Offers Special Gifts To All Subdivisions In both cases, the Creatures, who were obviously the stars of the meetings, initiated the discussions by trying to emphasize the inner tensions within those communities and their roles of peacemakers via the heavy investments that they will procure and that would change the lives of the inhabitants (W.M., member of a local party committee in the Littoral). Personal rule in Black Africa: Prince, autocrat, prophet, tyrant. Almost all the participants insisted on the need to remain anonymous and some of them asked us to change the initial letters of their names in the research reports so as they could not be retrieved by the partys watchers. 2640; Ndi 2014). 4536). Outre-Terre 11 (2): 337344. In the light of our present inquiry, further research could concentrate on two important aspects. Democratization 10 (2): 121140. Varieties of clientelism: Machine politics during elections. 1992. Morse, Yonatan L. 2018. Biya appoints the members of the electoral commission and the members of the Constitutional Council in charge of the settlement of electoral disputes and the proclamation of the results. Amongst the 360 subdivisions in - Cameroon News Agency - Facebook Three of the FG1 members observed that the Creatures were able to use their key positions to promise a specific allocation of resources in the immediately post-electoral periods (G.T., former advisor of a ministerial director). Correspondence to The decree N2019/3179/PM of the 02nd September 2019 declared the regions of the Far-North, South-West, and North-West economically disastrous due to the insecurity 2017. In formulating our main argument, we kept in mind these series of aspects that have recurrently appeared as being relevant for the understanding of the clientelistic practices under semi-authoritarian regimes. This is what remained as la politique du ventre (the politics of the stomach), a famous formula through which Jean-Franois Bayart (Bayart 1989) described the penchant of the African communities to promise their electoral support to those who promise in return the fulfilment of these basic needs (which does not imply that either of the two would keep their promise as such). 1989. Ukraine and Kazakhstan) (Chakravarty 2010; Berenshot and Aspinall 2020). Sergiu Micoiu, Sdagban Hygin F. Kaka, Kokou Folly L. and Hetcheli, eds. In this sense, he is effectively their Creator and consequently they are his Creatures. AND "I am just so excited.". The Journal of Modern African Studies 41 (2): 297321. Various theoretical aspects, such as defining clientelism (Kitschelt and Wilkinson 2007), exploring its historical roots (Piatoni 2001) or designing and amending different models of clientelism (Gherghina and Volintiru 2017) have been deeply and convincingly approached by numerous relevant authors. And then because the Western, Eastern and Austral African countries are the mirror of the radically uneven economic growth that the contemporary phase of globalization produced, with extremely thin strata of wealthy and cosmopolitan elites and with the quasi-totality of the others confronted with poverty and severe marginalization (Sembene 2015). Where can I find data about Cameroons subdivisions and number of inhabitants? The Toledo Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Ohio.The line runs from Hamilton (north of Cincinnati) north to Perrysburg (near Toledo) along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line.. The research focused on issues such as the strength of individual beliefs and opinions on the Cameroonian political developments (e.g. This latter hypostasis of the Creatures opens for a wider possibility to analyse the clientelistic systems not merely as varieties of patron-client relations based on open negotiations but as complex pre-settled systems of domination where the extraction of the electoral support is rather hierarchic and often authoritative, leaving a limited marge of manoeuvre to the grass-root actors (as also implied by some comprehensive researches, such as the one conducted by Yonatan Morse (Morse 2018). As we will show, these nodal points are embodied by key actors known as Creatures who have become essential for both the stability and the permanent adaptation of the political systems, insuring in this way their continuity. 2008. 3955), these two reasons should be sufficient to justify our option for Cameroon as case study for analysing the above-mentioned aspects of clientelism. The first image of the Creatures as distant masters of the puppets, too highly placed to involve in the vulgar business of negotiation with basic political agents and voters, is spread among numerous FG2 participants. 132). 2011. 2001. The New Wave of Presidential Authoritarianism in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa. 26(1). Early literature discusses the incipient development of the electoral behaviour in Francophone Western and Central Africa and stresses its specificity: the feeble nature of political-electoral competitiveness and the abundance of the single-party or one-dominant-party systems (Debbach 1966; Jackson and Rosberg 1982; Aly Dieng 2012); the overwhelmingly ethno-tribal vote (Bogaards 2004, pp. On a contrary, most FG3 and especially most FG4 participants were inclined to underestimate the influence of the Creatures and to augment in this way their own degree of autonomy and their own proximity to the local decision-makers and voters. Instead, to promise a favourable vote for Paul Biya or for the party and then to stay home the day of the elections is a much safer and more subtle strategy. Thirdly, Cameroon is affected by the economic precariousness that drives citizens to compromise. France-Gabon: pratiques clientlaires et logiques dtat dans les relations franco-africaines. This also accounts for why Nguti is one of the most-hit areas of the. the reinforcement of the oppositions platforms and its incapacity to gather in a single counter-candidature against Biya). To begin with, it is important to assess the FG participants understandings of the notion of Creature. Party patronage and party government in European democracies. Democratization in Africa 19902010: An assessment. Democratization. Crise de lgitimit politique et vidence de la continuit. Politique africaine 90 (2): 145160. Indeed, the idea of the verticality of power and presidentialism is not only a colonial legacy (Kakdeu 2015). Clientelism and vote buying: Lessons from field experiments in African elections. Democratization 25 (4): 709727. In the following section, after explaining the reasons for choosing our case study, we will define, explore and discuss in detail the notion of Creature. Why is there no funding for the Arecibo observatory, despite there being funding in the past? 927). Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want Malaquais, Dominique. In Cameroon, despite the emergence of pluralism, President Paul Biya and his party succeeded to continuously remain in power, securing and even consolidating his majority in Parliament after the sole tight election that took place in 1992 (Nkainfon Pefura 1996). 2019. It influences political practice, especially with regard to the perception of power. Driscoll, Barry. Ethnopopulism in Africa: Opposition mobilization in diverse and unequal societies. From a more general perspective, this research highlights some specific features of clientelism in semi-authoritarian regimes, at least in the Sub-Saharan African context. Diop, Omar. Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, You can also search for this author in Propos sur la gouvernementalit en Rpublique dmocratique du Congo. Democratization 27 (1): 119. Following the guidelines formulated by John Gerring (Garring 2016, pp. First, because the studies about clientelism follow the iron laws of progressiveness in science: as the African states are among the latest states to be created, the understanding processes of the political phenomena taking place in those states has lacked for a very long time the necessary knowledge infrastructures in terms of capacity of understanding. (2020), conflicts and environmental problems affecting cattle grazing and their management strategies in Noni subdivision, Cameroon, Revista Universitar de . Menthong. Partis politiques et processus de transition dmocratique en Afrique noire: recherches sur les enjeux juridiques et sociologiques du multipartisme dans quelques pays de lespace francophone. - LLC Books - Google Books Subdivisions of Cameroon: Communes of Cameroon, Departments of Cameroon, Bafut. Bogaards, Matthijs. According to the 2008 and 2019 administrative organization laws, there are 10 governors of region, 58 divisional officers, 360 sub-divisional officers, 360 mayors of municipalities, and 14 mayors of cities. Discours, cultures et reprsentations politiques au Cameroun. For the FG results analysis, we adapted the methodology proposed by John M. Creswell (Creswell 2014). Category:Subdivisions of Cameroon - Wikimedia Commons Neo-liberalism and the persistence of clientelism in Africa. data about the number of inhabitants for all subdivisions of Cameroon. Thus, we changed all the initials of the names of the FG participants and in this way all the participants accepted to be audio-recorded and to be quoted. Paris: Karthala. 600), Moderation strike: Results of negotiations, Our Design Vision for Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network, Recent Demographic and Economic Data at CBSA-level, Find geographic data on the languages spoken in Russia. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy, ed. Pigeaud, Fanny. How can i reproduce the texture of this picture? APN 2233359. Introduction: change and continuity in contemporary Africa. Within this latter set of scientific concerns, the Sub-Saharan African societal and political systems appear as being among the most fertile grounds for studying clientelism. 2012. 2012) seems to be only partly pertinent when studying the semi-authoritarian Central African systems. Although aspects such as the opportunity of their interventions, the consistency of their promises or their capacity to satisfy their clients demands remained to some extent controversial, there was a general consensus that they benefited of a special status (the Chosen Ones) and that they fulfilled a key-role as nodal points in articulating the clientelistic relations within and around the presidential party. Autoritarisme, presse et violence au Cameroun. Presidential power and democratization by elections in Africa. Mdard, Jean-Franois. Defining spatiotemporal structure of vegetation anomaly in Cameroon in . Regardless of their intentions and capacities, numerous participants of all the FGs concluded that the Creatures were the only high-ranking officials capable to fuel and to manipulate the patron-client relations in Cameroonian politics. In this context, it is common for citizens to exchange their votes or their activism for money or a promise of social climbing (Vicente and Wantchkon 2009). At the same time, the process of decentralisation, initiated in 1996, has been particularly slow and inconsistent (Kakdeu 2015). Les partis politiques de lopposition en Afrique: La qute du pouvoir. Oxford: Routledge. But this did not diminish the well-entrenched behaviours of the regional and local party organizations, which are based on fear of control and traditional respect of hierarchies; thus, the Creatures are still perceived as the Presidents Cardinals, being the last ones you have the interest to upset (U.I., regional party committee substitute in the South).