Politics at the margins: alternative sites of political involvement among young people in Cameroon

Fokwang, Jude

doi:10.1080/00083968.2016.1219671

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Recognizing the indeterminacy of the hypotheses proposed by the existing literature, this article presents a unified theory of partisanship in electoral autocracies. I argue that while existing frameworks of political behavior in autocracies focus on "snapshot" moments before elections to explain the choices of ordinary citizens, we must instead look to the broader social contexts of ordinary people to fully understand their political choices (Fokwang 2016;Weghorst 2022). Drawing on our understanding of partisanship in consolidated democracies (Green, Palmquist, and Schickler 2002;Huckfeldt and Sprague 1995;Lazarsfeld 1948;Sinclair 2012), as well as recent work by Laebens and Öztürk (2021) in Turkey, I propose that it is more fruitful to view partisanship as a social identity than as a rationalist response to material incentives.…”

Section: Partisanship and Political Socialization In Electoral Autocr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Partisanship and Political Socialization in Electoral Autocracies

LETSA

2024

Am Polit Sci Rev

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In electoral autocracies, why do some people actively support political parties while others choose to not get involved in politics? Further, what differentiates those who choose to support the ruling party from those who support the opposition? Existing research has proposed that people support ruling parties primarily to extract economic benefits from the state while people support opposition parties primarily for ideological reasons. However, we lack a unified theory of partisanship, leading to indeterminant predictions about the individual predictors of partisanship. This article instead considers the social nature of partisanship in authoritarian regimes. Qualitative data collected in Cameroon highlight different processes of political socialization in an autocratic context, and data from an original survey show not only that partisan homogeneity in social networks is highly predictive of individual-level partisanship but also, at least to some extent, that partisanship can be contagious through the process of socialization within these networks.

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Section: Partisanship and Political Socialization In Electoral Autocr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Partisanship and Political Socialization in Electoral Autocracies

LETSA

2024

Am Polit Sci Rev

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“…Despite the "double marginalisation" as youths and as Anglophones voiced by young Anglophone Cameroonians, most young Cameroonians share several vital concerns: unemployment, underemployment, and socio-economic uncertainty [43]. This uncertainty, as a crisis, became "routinised" in Cameroon and ceased to surprise people in and how they define themselves [41].…”

Section: Understanding International Migration From (Anglophone) Came...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This uncertainty, as a crisis, became "routinised" in Cameroon and ceased to surprise people in and how they define themselves [41]. In this way, Cameroon's postcolonial state is seen as a stumbling block of youths' transition to social adulthood [43]. Therefore, being faced with an uncertain future, it is little wonder an increasing number of young Cameroonians and Africans more broadly opt for international migration.…”

Section: Understanding International Migration From (Anglophone) Came...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Let Them Make It Rain and Bling”: Unveiling Community Expectations towards Returned Migrants in Cameroon

2022

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In Africa, international migration to the Global North is often interpreted as a means to achieve upward social mobility. This article highlights the importance of considering the socio-economic and political transformations that form migration aspirations, especially among African youths. Simultaneously, increasing restrictive migration regimes impacts the extent to which migrants can meet the clauses in the moral economy of migration in their origin communities. We focus on (Anglophone) Cameroon, where international migration is referred to as “bushfalling”. A person who migrates to a Western society desires or is expected to return home to share the wealth he/she has accumulated. This interpretation of migration forms different perspectives regarding migrants and guides expectations towards returned migrants. However, little is known on how these expectations are defined and redefined in the society of return. Based on focus group discussions conducted among local community members, we show that the expectations were guided by the visa regimes of destination countries. Moreover, successful returnees were defined by their ability to be visible and create an impact after return. Thus, this article contributes more broadly to an African perspective on the meaning and impact of return migration.

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“…This situation echoes a context marked by the perpetuation of public patriarchy (Mouiché, 2007: 391), which has strongly contributed to the marginalized status of youth, with cultural and political basis (Comaroff and Comaroff, 2005; Cruise O’Brien, 1996). Consequently, young people 1 are to be understood in a relationship of dependence with social elders without being deprived of their agency (Fokwang, 2016: 213). This situation encourages the latter to opt for ‘poaching form’ (Abé, 2011: 141), understood as a strategy for thwarting the control of power, and which has the effect of leading them to a political expression ‘at ground level’ (Abé, 2011: 142).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neotoponymy, Appropriation of Space and Youth Political Expression in Tokombéré, Northern Cameroon (1970–2011)

Shelley

2021

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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Using the example of neotoponyms proliferation in Tokombéré (Northern Cameroon) between 1970 and 2011, this paper questions the banal tactics of naming places as a site of public patriarchy contestation. In fact, young people play a crucial role in reinventing local political power forms of interpellation, which enables them to symbolically reappropriate the space. This helps to establish their presence in the public sphere from which they have been side-lined by social elders. Even though it reflects a political expression, the fact remains that the attribution of toponyms does not really help to reverse their domination into social field.

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Politics at the margins: alternative sites of political involvement among young people in Cameroon

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Partisanship and Political Socialization in Electoral Autocracies

Partisanship and Political Socialization in Electoral Autocracies

“Let Them Make It Rain and Bling”: Unveiling Community Expectations towards Returned Migrants in Cameroon

Neotoponymy, Appropriation of Space and Youth Political Expression in Tokombéré, Northern Cameroon (1970–2011)

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