Liberal Democracy and Political Violence in Cameroon: the Crisis of the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon

Abstract

This paper critically examines Cameroon’s democratization trajectory since the early 1990s through the analytical lens of Democratic Peace Theory (DPT). While DPT posits that democracies foster peace through norms of negotiation, accountability, and institutional constraints, Cameroon’s experience reveals a stark divergence from these expectations. Despite adopting multiparty politics and liberal reforms under domestic and international pressure, the country has evolved into a hybrid democratic‑authoritarian system marked by electoral manipulation, entrenched elite dominance, and the erosion of civil liberties. The 2016 Anglophone crisis serves as a critical case illustrating how democratic institutions have been instrumentalized to legitimize coercion rather than promote peaceful dispute resolution. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2025—including 50 interviews, seven focus group discussions, and documentary analysis—the study demonstrates that the Biya regime’s repressive response to Anglophone grievances has deepened political fragility, institutionalized state violence, and exacerbated social divisions. The findings challenge DPT’s applicability in hybrid regimes and propose a Contextualized Democratic Peace Model (CDPM) that integrates institutional resilience, socioeconomic equity, and normative adaptation as prerequisites for intrastate peace in African democracies.