Concepts That Shape Politics and Government in Cameroon: A Handbook of Political Theory for Stakeholders

Akwalefo Bernadette Djeudo

Oct 2013 · Author House

About this ebook

In this book, the reader is introduced to the concepts of politics, government, political theory and political culture with reference to Cameroon. Defined as human activity concerned with controversies over public questions and the resolution of those controversies, politics is concerned with the affairs of government and because government action deeply affects us, we take a lively interest in what governments do. We form associations and organize campaigns to articulate our demands. We negotiate with others and try to shape the goals that governments pursue. When we disagree with the policies of the government, we protest and organize demonstration to persuade our governments to change the existing laws. We passionately debate the actions of our representatives. In this way we look for the rationale underlying the prevalent chaos and decay, and aspire to create a better world. To sum up, politics arises from the fact that we have different visions of what is just and desirable for us and our society. Politics exist because we possess reason and the ability to reflect on government actions and communicate our innermost thoughts and desires with each other. Political theory has its roots in these twin aspects of the human being. Defined as a network of concepts and generalizations about political life involving ideas, assumptions and statements about the nature, purpose and key features of government Political theory systematically thinks about the values that inform political life values such as freedom, equality, justice, nationalism, secularism, development etc. It explains the meanings and significance of these and other related concepts by focusing on some major political thinkers, theologians, kings, economists, sociologists, popes etc of the past and present. It also examines the extent to which freedom or equality are actually present in the institutions that we participate in everyday such as schools, shops, buses or trains or government offices and it looks at whether existing definitions and institutions are adequate or must be modified to become more democratic. The objective of political theory is to train citizens to think rationally about political questions and assess correctly the political events of our time. In applying political theory, some countries are more successful than others due to the variations in political culture. A country's degree of success in operating a governmental system that is democratic in character depends, to a very large extent, upon the nature and content of the political culture of that country. For democracy to work, the country's political culture must be compatible with and support the very concepts of constitutionalism, the rule of law, and representative democracy--as well as be consistent with and sustain the country's established, agreed-upon Constitution, including the constitutionally prescribed procedures for managing and resolving controversy over public questions, making and carrying out authoritative decisions on public policy, protecting the rights and liberties of citizens, and peacefully transferring governing authority from one group of political leaders to another. In all discussions examples are drawn from Cameroon and elsewhere in the world.

About the author

Attempted Senator nominated by the incumbent CPDM party Central Committee as one of the candidates for the West region, for the first ever organized Senatorial Elections in Cameroon, I, author Akwalefo Bernadette Djeudo, is Cameroonian by birth and a veteran educationist involved in community affairs, civil society activities and the political development process of my country to ensure my voice is heard and my vote counted. I have a BA, MA and DEA in economic geography, a post graduate diploma in Education, a certificate in pro-poor project design of development interventions and recently an MA in Public Management. I was born on the 3/3/1966 in a small clan called the Fondonera Kingdom where I am today the Regent Paramount Ruler. My biological father was the paramount ruler of my clan, a clan made up of 26 administratively recognized third class villages. He had more than 100 wives and about 200 children. During his reign, children were looked upon as wealth, but wealth itself excluded any formal educational training. Living in conditions of extreme poverty, it took God’s abundant Grace for me to go to school. My career goal at the moment is to get involved in public affairs with a concentration in economic and social development and to acquire skills in analysing the political, economic, organisational and normative aspects of complex societal and political problems related to sustainable development and poverty reduction. My definite major purpose and labour of love is to fight poverty with its political and environmental ramification, with passion and professionalism. I do not believe that men were meant to live in the foes of poverty, degradation, slums and ignorance. I believe that man by virtue of his humanity should live in the light of reason, exercise moral responsibility and be free to develop to the full the talents that are in him. I also believe that poverty can be done with not by increasing the number of well to do people who think about poverty, but by increasing the number of people who purpose with faith to get rich. What tends to do away with poverty is not the getting of pictures of poverty in to the minds but getting pictures of wealth into the minds of the poor. The poor do not need charity; they need inspiration that will cause them to rise, out of their misery. I believe that the poor can develop their minds to attract only positive vibration of prosperity, health, success, happiness and not those of fear, poverty, disease and misery from the Universal storehouse of the ether. I want to always speak of the poor as those who are becoming rich, those who are to be congratulated rather that pitied.