Party Politics and the Electoral System in Cameroon: Changes in Continuity 1948 - 2018

Few concepts are more central to the modern state and, at the same time, more difficult to define than the concepts of political parties, democracy, and elections. Based on primary, secondary, and alternative sources, the author nonetheless try to defy the odds and explain these concepts as clearly as possible in the context of Cameroon from 1948, the year in which the first political party (UPC) was created and went operational, to 2018, the year in which the last presidential elections took place. In this book, political parties are presented as central institutions of a modern democracy at different epochs. The characteristics and functions of parties, the basic elements of their organisation, their political and social context, as well as the problems of party democracy and the specific challenges faced by parties, besides proposed solutions from within the time frame, are the main issues.