Conformism in Cameroon Politics: A Strategy For Survival in a Repressive “Democracy” 1961-1990

Abstract

The gradual shift in democratic standards and the challenge to its universalism has given room for democratic abuse to thrive in most parts of the world including Cameroon. This research paper paints a picture of the democratic realities in Cameroon by questioning the political docility of Cameroonians who have all taken refuge in Conformism. The paper postulates that unlike in other democracies where repression begets dissidence, protest, and reform, in Cameroon, repression rather annihilated dissidence, eradicated protest, and imposed conformism as the only option for political survival. To develop this argument, the qualitative research approach was adopted with an in-depth analysis of behavioral traits, attitudes, opinions, mindsets, and value systems of political actors in an interactive and documentary research procedure. In this procedure, we privileged data from archival depositories, newspaper accounts, and reports, as well as oral accounts from interviews and documentaries spotlighting key political actors in Cameroon. Our findings revealed that Cameroon has an inspiring History of militancy and political activism, it also lay bare the fact that absolute power wielded by Cameroons’ post-independence leaders greatly infringed democratic values, pushing the erstwhile militants and activists of change and freedom to embrace docility and political conformism at the expense of freedom and democracy.