Democratic transition and political landscaping in cameroon 1990-2000: profiling confusing power patterns versus indigenous response in the north west region

Abstract

To the various transformations that gripped the world and its economies in the 1990s, the new demands and responsibilities and the new ways of making use of resources, African countries south of the Sahara responded in quite different but interesting ways. In Cameroon, these new developments occasioned paradigmatic changes which took various contents and shapes, one of which being the formation of particular indigenous groups. A typical area in Cameroon where there was almost a unique response to this changing political matrix is the North West Region, also known as the Bamenda grasslands. This paper traces the basis the foundations of democratic transitions alongside theresurgence of political conscious groups in the North West Region. It maps out the new contours created as well as their plight in the pursuit of new identities and patterns of loyalties in the changing socio-political and economic landscape within a decade time span.