The Instrumentalization of Traditional Authority in Cameroon: Neopatrimonialism, Political Patronage, and Democratic Undermining

This paper argues that since 2016, amid the Anglophone Crisis, the Cameroonian state’s co-optation of traditional authority in the Northwest and Southwest regions has reinforced a patronage-based political order that obstructs democratic consolidation. Chiefs have been transformed into political intermediaries, mobilizing electoral support in exchange for state patronage. Through the selective creation and recognition of chiefdoms, the regime rewards loyalists and suppresses dissent. This politicization erodes traditional governance, fragments communal identity, and intensifies regional tensions. Yet, some chiefs actively resist state encroachment, invoking ancestral legitimacy and ritual authority to assert autonomy. The instrumentalization of chieftaincy thus sustains authoritarian resilience while provoking localized forms of agency and resistance.