Rethinking the Inimicality of African Realities to Democracy with a Focus on Cameroon

Democracy is applauded world-wide as the best system of government. While it has been successfully institutionalised in many parts of the globe, it has failed to overpower dictatorial rule in Africa. Despite democratisation efforts across sub-Saharan Africa since the early 1990s, liberal democracy remains an illusion rather than a reality for most African states. This paper primarily looks at democracy and its relevance not only to Africa’s people but also to the world’s people at large. It then moves on to examine Cameroon’s political and socio-economic experience with the view to challenging the assertion that sub-Saharan Africa is still largely authoritarian because its political and socio-economic realities are not suitable to the development of liberal democracy.