History Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2020

Publication Source

Journal of Modern African Studies

Abstract

Existing literature argues that the tactics of Cameroon foreign policy have been conservative, weak and timid. This study refutes that perspective. Based on extensive and previously unused primary sources obtained from Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations and from the nation’s archives in Buea and Yaoundé, this study argues that Cameroon’s foreign policy was neither timid nor makeshift. Its strategy was one of pragmatism. By examining the nation’s policy toward Nigeria in the reunification of Cameroon, the Nigerian civil war, the Bakassi Peninsula crisis and Boko Haram, the study maintains that, while the nation’s policy was cautious, its leaders focused on the objectives and as a result scored major victories. The study concludes by suggesting that President Paul Biya invokes the same skills he used in foreign policy to address the ongoing Anglophone problem, a problem that threatens to unravel much of what the country has accomplished.

Inclusive pages

1-22

ISBN/ISSN

0022-278X

Document Version

Postprint

Comments

The document available for download is the author's accepted manuscript, provided in compliance with the publisher's policy on self-archiving. Permission documentation is on file. For the version of record, use the DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X19000545

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Volume

58

Issue

1

Peer Reviewed

yes

Keywords

Ahmadou Ahidjo, Paul Biya, Muhammadu Buhari, Secession, Boko Haram

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