Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:38:39.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parents, Private Schools, and the Politics of an Emerging Civil Society in Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Patrick M. Boyle
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

While scholarly cautions are needed as regards both simplistic dichotomies and the subtle rhetoric that converts ‘civil society’ into a new sacred depository for ‘a wide range of emancipatory aspirations’,1 frequently pitted against that ‘predatory species’ we call the state,2 the view from Yaoundé suggests that questions about social classes are likely to be helpful in any analysis of the complex relationship between state and society in contemporary Africa.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 609 - 622
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Wood, Ellen Meiksins, ‘The Uses and Abuses of “Civil Society”’, in Miliband, Ralph and Panitch, Leo (eds.), The Retreat of the Intellectuals. Socialist Register, 1990 (London, 1990),Google Scholar cited in Fatton, Robert Jr, Predatory Rule: state and civil society in Africa (Boulder and London, 1992), p. 18.Google Scholar

2 Lemarchand, René, ‘Uncivil States and Civil Societies: how illusion became reality’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 30, 2, 06 1992, p. 178, observes that civil society can be ‘converted…into a conservative ideology, or legitimising myth, in defence of the state. Or, conversely, it can provide the basis for a logic of political action directed against the state’.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 According to recent census data 40 per cent of Cameroonians over the age of 11 are illiterate. Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé), 13 03 1991.Google Scholar

4 Zolberg, Aristide, ‘The Structure of Political Conflict in the New States of Africa’, in American Political Science Review (Washington, DC), 62, 03 1968, p. 70.Google Scholar

5 See, for example, Woods, Dwayne, ‘Civil Society in Europe and Africa: limiting state power through a public sphere’, in African Studies Review (Atlanta), 35, 2, 09 1992, pp. 77–100,Google Scholar and Bratton, Michael and van de Walle, Nicolas, ‘Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa’, in World Politics (Princeton), 46, 07 1994, pp. 435–89.Google Scholar

6 Sklar, Richard L., ‘The Nature of Class Domination in Africa’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, 17, 4, 12 1979, pp. 531–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 See, for example, Schatzberg, Michael G., Politics and Class in Zaire: bureaucracy, business, and beer in Lisala (New York, 1980),Google Scholar and Callaghy, Thomas M., The State-Society Struggle: Zaire in comparative perspective (New York, 1984).Google Scholar

8 Apter, David E., and Rosberg, Carl G., ‘Changing African Perspectives’, in Apter, and Rosberg, (eds.), Political Development and the New Realism in Sub-Saharan Africa (Charlottesville and London, 1994), p. 32.Google Scholar

9 Mazrui, Ali A., Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa (London, 1978), pp. xiii and 197.Google Scholar

10 Apter, David E., The Politics of Modernization (Chicago, 1965), p. 72.Google Scholar

11 Mukweso, Mwenene, Papagiannis, George J., and Milton, Sande, ‘Educational and Occupational Attainment from Generation to Generation: the case of Zaire’, in Comparative Education Review (Chicago), 28, 02 1984, pp. 52–68.Google Scholar

12 Callaway, Archibald, ‘Unemployment Among African School Leavers’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, 1, 3, 09 1963, pp. 351–71,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Huntington, Samuel P., ‘Political Development and Political Decay’, in World Politics, 17, 3, 04 1965, pp. 386–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Carr-Hill, Roy A., Social Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa (London, 1991), p. 100.Google Scholar

14 Several African states formally incorporated into their constitutions Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which reads: ‘Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.’ UN Department of Public Information, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (New York, 1948), p. 13.Google Scholar

15 Young, Crawford and Turner, Thomas, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State (Madison, 1985), pp. 134–5 and 402.Google Scholar See also, Diejomaoh, V. P. and Anusionwu, E. C., ‘Education and Income Distribution in Nigeria’, in Bienen, Henry and Diejomaoh, (eds.), The Political Economy of Income Distribution in Nigeria (New York, 1981), pp. 320–31.Google Scholar

16 Foster, Philip, ‘The Education Policies of Postcolonial States’, in Anderson, Lascelles and Windham, Douglas (eds.), Education and Development: issues in the analysis and planning of postcolonial states (Lexington, MA, 1982), p. 9.Google Scholar

17 Foster, Philip, ‘Education and Social Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, 18, 2, 06 1980, pp. 214 and 210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18 Carr-Hill, op. cit. p. 98.

19 World Bank, Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: policies for adjustment, revitalization, and expansion (Washington, DC, 1988), pp. x and 6.Google Scholar

20 Boyle, Patrick M., ‘The Politics of Education in Zaire’, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1991.Google Scholar

21 See Bayart, Jean-François, ‘Civil Society in Africa’, in Chabal, Patrick (ed.), Political Domination in Africa: reflections on the limits of power (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 109–25,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Kamrava, Mehran, ‘Conceptualising Third World Politics: the state-society see-saw’, in Third World Quarterly (Abingdon), 14, 4, 11 1993, pp. 703–16.Google Scholar

22 Young, Crawford, ‘The Democratization in Africa: the contradictions of a political imperative’, in Widner, Jennifer A. (ed.), Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore and London, 1994), p. 242.Google Scholar

23 Cohen, Jean L. and Abato, Andrew, Civil Society and Political Theory (Cambridge, MA, 1991), p. 16.Google Scholar

24 Barkan, Joel D. argues this point in ‘Resurrecting Modernization Theory and the Emergence of Civil Society in Kenya and Nigeria’, in Apter and Rosberg (eds.), op. cit. pp. 87–116.Google Scholar

25 Bratton and van de Walle, loc. cit. p. 462.

26 Seligman, Adam B., The Idea of Civil Society (New York, 1992), pp. x and 31.Google Scholar

27 Poggi, Gianfranco, The Development of the Modern State: a sociological introduction (Stanford, 1978), pp. 71 and 81.Google Scholar

28 Crook, Richard, ‘State, Society and Political Institutions in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana’, in Manor, James (ed.), Rethinking Third World Politics (London, 1991), p. 215.Google Scholar

29 Fatton, op. cit. p. 75.

30 Franqueville, André, Yaoundé: construire une capitale (Paris, 1984), p. 14.Google Scholar

31 Verdier, Isabelle, ‘Les Mutations de la capitale administrative et politique’, in Marchés tropicaux et méditerranéens (Paris), 2331, 13 07 1990, p. 2071.Google Scholar

32 Ibid. p. 2072, and Jdot;acques Alibert, ‘Bilan et perspective de la politique de stabilisation: le Cameroon à l'heure de l'ajustement’, in ibid. 2457, 11 December 1992, p. 3287.

33 In Cameroon the funds allocated to education by the central government dropped from earlier levels of 20–30 per cent to just 12 per cent in the 1986–90 period. The country's expenditure in this category corresponds to the average for sub-Saharan Africa. Unicef, The State of the World's Children, 1994 (New York, 1994), Table 6, p. 74.Google Scholar

34 Zoa, Jean, ‘Le Problème est philosophique et politique’, in L'Effort camerounais (Yaoundé), 37, 975, 04 1991, p. 16.Google Scholar

35 Franqueville, op. cit. p. 138.

36 World Bank, ‘Project Outline. National Private Education Development Fund, Preparation Mission, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Draft for Discussion, February 24, 1993’, Washington, DC, p. 1.

37 Recent legislation dividing the capital into six arrondissements does not change the size of Yaoundé II. République fédérale du Cameroon, ‘Décret 92/187 du rer September 1992’.

38 Franqueville, op. cit. p. 39.

39 A reasonable 61 per cent of school directors participated in consultations in 1994. No attempts were made to verify information or to make a qualitative assessment of instruction.

40 Shu, Solomon, ‘Education in Cameroon’, in Fafunwa, A. Babs and Aisiku, J. U. (eds.), Education in Africa: a comparative study (London, 1982), p. 47,Google Scholar and ‘Cameroon’, in Africa South of the Sahara, 1994 (London, 1993), p. 234.Google Scholar

41 National Union of Cameroonian Students (UK), Education Committee Report, Section 8, Article 1. Convention of Culture and Maturity, University of Keele, 3 July 1992.

42 World Bank, op. cit. p. 2.

43 ‘Rencontre des directeurs et principaux de l'enseignement catholique: qu'advienne la justice scolaire?’, in L'Effort camerounais, 37, 975, April 1991, p. 10, and Archidiocèse de Yaoundé, ‘Les Taux de scolarité pour 1993–1994’, 7 May 1993.

44 Secrétariat permanent de l'enseignement catholique, ‘Tous ensemble sauvons l'école catholique’, Yaoundé, May 1992.

45 Parents d'élèves du primaire des écoles catholiques de l'Archidiocèse de Yaoundé, ‘Lettre à Son Excellence le Premier Ministre, le 23 juin 1993’.

46 Ministère de l'éducation nationale, Lettre-circulaire du 23 September 1992.

47 Franqueville, op. cit. p. 7.

48 World Bank, ‘Project Outline’, p. 2.

49 Republic of Cameroon, Sixth Five-Year Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan, 1986–1991 (Yaoundé, 1986), p. 199.Google Scholar

50 Le Bris, Emile, ‘Crise urbaine et effets urbains de la crise: le cas de l'Afrique noire’, in Espaces et société: revue scientifique internationale (Paris), 65, 1991, p. 67.Google Scholar

51 Dujardin, Bruno, ‘Mission: développement des soins de santé primaire en milieu urbain’. Yaoundé: World Bank, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Cameroon and the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Anvers. November 1991 to February 1992, p. 86.Google Scholar

52 Alibert, loc. cit. p. 3287.

53 Mougoue, Benoit, ‘Yaoundé: quelles perspectives de développement?’, in Marchés tropicaux et méditerranéens, 2331, 13 07 1990, p. 2090.Google Scholar

54 Appiah, Kwame Anthony, In My Father's House: Africa in the philosophy of culture (Oxford and New York, 1992), pp. 169–70, explains that local organisations in Kumasi in the 1980s were increasingly ‘becoming more and more central in organizing the financing, building, staffing, and equipping of schools; in supporting the city hospital; and working, often in combination with each other and the leaders of the Moslem community and the Catholic archbishop’. In the last decade and a half, according to Appiah, the churches and some of these organisations were ‘taking over functions formerly reserved to the government and …they were doing so in circumstances where state officials were only too keen to have their aid’.Google Scholar