Not home-made: Historical and contemporary social policy dynamics in Cameroon

Abstract

Social policy development trajectories in post-colonial sub-Saharan African states deviate from those in highly industrialized countries. Recent research endeavours established broad patterns of global interdependencies dating back to colonialism. This article contributes to these efforts by presenting a case study of the dynamics animating social policy development in Cameroon. It examines the progressive evolution of global determinants and their impacts on Cameroon’s welfare system over three periods: (1) decolonialization and post-colonial restructuring in the mid-20th century, (2) structural adjustment in response to the 1980s’ debt crisis and (3) the contemporary era of market liberalization driven by accelerated economic globalization. The research draws on a mixed-methods approach involving a document analysis and a survey administered in 400 rural households. Findings indicate that horizontal interdependencies were predominant in the establishment phase of Cameroon’s national social insurance scheme, but eventually gave way to vertical interdependencies in the 1980s. Recent efforts to advance economic liberalization represent a return to horizontal transnational forces, given the growing influence of multinational corporations on the country’s social security landscape. The study reinforces existing research insights in showing that, unlike social protection in the global north, social policy dynamics in Africa tend to actively contribute to the marginalization of underprivileged groups.

Advancing global and transnational approaches to the study of out-of-home childcare

“…A growing number of studies explore the diversity of global and transnational actor populationspublic and private, for-profit and non-profit, formal and informal, standalone and collective actors. These include for example, international organizations (Martens et al, 2021), INGOs (Downie 2019;Mitchell et al, 2020), transnational corporations (Bartley 2018;Hamann 2020), private regulatory bodies (Bartley 2022;Renckens et al, 2022;Ulybina 2015;Ulybina and Fennell 2013), transnational individuals, activists, think tanks, consultants and others (Stone 2019;Haang'andu & Béland 2020).…”

“…While activities of global players such as the United Nations, UNICEF, and a few well-known INGOs such as SOS Children's Villages or Save the Children are widely cited in the context of national care reforms (Greenberg and Partskhaladze 2014;Ivanova and Bogdanov 2013;Ulybina, 2020), various other cross-border actors remain in the analytical shade. In other policy areas, scholars reveal a broad and growing range of influential global and transnational actors, which includes not just the 'usual suspects' like intergovernmental organizations and INGOs but also transnational companies and corporations (Bartley 2018;Hamann 2020), private regulatory bodies (Bartley 2022;Renckens et al, 2022;Ulybina 2015;Ulybina and Fennell 2013), think tanks, policy experts and consultants (Tallberg and Jönsson 2010;Thiel and Maslanik 2010), trans-governmental networks, transnational public-private partnerships (Downie 2019;Stone 2019), and informal institutions (Reiners 2021). Given that these organizations and individuals now penetrate and impact ever more areas of social life, it is important to investigate the agency of these groups of actors in the field of childcare.…”

Exploring the Neo-Colonial Influence of Chinese FDI and Western Power on the Evolution of Labor Market Policies in a Developing Country

“…The most prominent events that impact Africa's socio-economic development are arguably geopolitical shifts and their ensuing dynamics. In particular, the availability, for the first time, of alternative investments from China, the structural adjustments in response to the 1980s debt crisis, and the decolonization and post-colonial restructuring of the mid-20th century (Geary & Nyiawung, 2021;Hamann, 2020). On the heels of capitalists-engineered, neo-liberal labor policies and practices, the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa from new alternative sources (especially China) over the last two decades has led to significant economic development and attracted much attention due to their implications for work and employment in the continent (Abodohoui, Su, & Da-Silva, 2018;Bräutigam, 2020).…”

The policy dynamics of Indonesia's science, technology, and innovation system (STI system): Current state of research and literature construction

“…Policy dynamics has developed into a study, widely researched by scientists across the globe, such as: development of policy dynamics in the federal government system (Weaver, 2020); global-local education policies in New Zealand and Norway (Stray & Wood, 2020); and a number of other studies (see Table 1). In recent developments or at least in the last three years, policy dynamics are often equated with the evolution of policy (Carpenter et al, 2020;Laudari et al, 2020), political dynamics (Atinga et al, 2022;de Graauw, 2022), policy change (Howlett et al, 2022), and policy development (Hamann, 2020;Thaler et al, 2020). As such, it is thus interesting to navigate the study development of policy dynamics of the STI system in Indonesia.…”

“…Welfare system policy (Hamann, 2020) policy development Cameroon social policy development and implementation (historical contextualization) 8.…”