From Monolithism to Monolitics: A failed transition to liberal democracy in Cameroon, 1966-1992

Western democratic culture introduced in Africa with the advent of imperialism, remains one of the most unsuccessful ventures of Western imperialists in Africa. For, of the many Western values thriving in Africa, Western democracy to date remains the only value that has encountered and continue to experience significant difficulties in its effective integration within the African socio-political space. This paper, which expounds on the difficult transition to liberal democracy in Cameroon since 1966, assesses the practice of democracy in post-independent Cameroon with the aim of unveiling the impediments that have long thwarted all efforts towards an effective liberal democracy in the country. With particular emphasis on Monolitics as a fundamental barrier to effective liberal democracy in Cameroon, this paper sustains the argument that the 1990 return to pluralist democracy was nothing but a farce which projected a strong democratic ideal but remained in its core, a mere display of monolithism with plural actors. To drive through this research paper we opted for a qualitative research approach, and to effectively capture the intentions, attitudes, opinions, mind-sets and facts on the conduct of pluralist politics in post-independent Cameroon, we privileged data from newspaper accounts and reports, not living out oral accounts from interviews and documentaries spotlighting key political actors of the period. The findings revealed that the democratic base planted in Cameroon before independence, survived through the pre-independence period and was totally swallowed up in 1966 by Monolithism which eventually gave way to Monolitics as the new approach to pluralist democracy in Cameroon.