The State, Urban Development Policy and Society in Cameroon

Attention to the state in Africa as an entity in its own right is of recent vintage. Thus, there is a dearth of knowledge on the forms, functions, structure and covert goals and objectives of the state in African societies. In other words, questions relating to the implications of these variables for different societal groups are largely unknown. This study seeks to address this deficiency. The empirical referent of the study is Cameroon and the focus is on the country's urban development policy. It is revealed that the policy favours the state and preferred societal groups, particularly the political, bureaucratic and entrepreneurial elites. Conversely, the policy is systematically biased against societal groups, such as women, the poor, ethnic and other minorities, who pose hardly any political or economic threat to the state and possess no connections to the levers of command.