1 - La suppression de la limitation du nombre de mandats présidentiels au Cameroun : analyse de la bifurcation de la trajectoire d’une politique institutionnelle

Abstract

This study uses the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the analysis of public policies and neo-institutionalism (in particular historical institutionalisms and rational choice) to investigate the manner in which the reversal of the evolution trend of institutional policy in Cameroon without revealing its weaknesses and justifying the necessity of its re-adaptation. The study demonstrates that the constitutional revision which ushered in the reinstatement of a perpetual re-eligibility of the President of the Republic here in Cameroon has taken a path characterized by the predominance of
strategic interactions between stakeholders who are dynamically active in and around the political arena while working for the desired or not desired shift of trajectory of Cameroonian politic. To confront this situation, state authorities have mobilized various resources to ensure the preeminence of their perception of the reality. The study concludes by positing that the issue of keeping or shifting institutions’ trajectories, as set in place in Africa during the ‘third wave of
democratisation’, is at the center of political struggles, and determines to a large extent the degree of satisfaction which they bring to different stakeholders in the sociopolitical game.