The underdevelopment of Cameroon: a study in the political economy of neo-colonialism, 1983
Ndue, Paul N.
1980-1989
This dissertation is based on the premise that Cameroon's post-independent economic problems are the result of the export of social conflicts that characterize the Capitalist countries. Although some Cameroonians sought to eclipse these conflicts through continued revolutionary struggle for political and economic independence from imperialism and colonial rule, others felt that economic development should be a slower evolutionary process within the framework of neo-colonialist powers. The direct result of this situation was the perpetuation of what some call "neo-colonialism," "imperialism without colonies," or "informal empire." It simply means that certain economic forces - the international price, marketing and financial systems have been by themselves sufficient to perpetuate and indeed intensify the relationship of dominance and exploitation between developed countries and Cameroon. Since the socio-economic underpinning of the continuation of the metropolitan colony relationship have remained, the imperialists have continued to exploit as was under colonialism. Technologically, Cameroon's dependence on the developed countries has intensified because of the highly monopolistic character of the technology market and her inability to diversify technological dependence. More often than not the transfer of technology-invari-ably inappropriate technology-encourages the production of goods which are irrelevant to the needs of the overwhelming majority of the people.2 'For a detailed study of these reflections see Norman 2. Hodges, "Neo-Colonialism: The New Race of Africa", Black Scholar, Vol. 3, No. 5 (January 1972), Pp. 12-23; and Harold S. Rogers, "Imperialism in Africa", Black Scholar, Vol. 2, No. 5, (1972), pp. 36-48. ^Jose Villamil (ed), Transnational Capitalism and Nationa1 Development:___Studies in the Theory of Dependence [Hassocks, Sussex, 1978); also see Hugo RadTce (ed), International Firms and Modern Imperialism (London, 197571) Unfortunately, there is little or no incentive for the multinationals to produce technology and goods more suitable for the needs of the masses in Cameroon. Because of their technological superiority the developed countries exercise control over what we produce and how and over our general path of development. Economically, Cameroon's trade patterns have continued to look towards France, Netherlands, Germany and the United States. Dependence has persisted in the military, aid and foreign investment. What is most humiliating is that after twenty-three years of independence, Cameroon has not managed to get its own internationally recognized currency. The implication is that the devaluation of the Franc, which Cameroon is pegged to, increased our external debt and a host of problems that are associated with this.
text
application/pdf
1983-05-01
dissertation
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Atlanta University
Department of Political Science
Ntima, Makidi-Ku
Clark Atlanta University
Georgia--Atlanta
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1983_ndue_paul_n
