Justice, Nation-Building And Democracy: The Anglophone Problem In Cameroon

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate how justice ignored in nation-building policies can hinder progress and endanger the security and stability of a nation. Although existing literature has shown this in several ways, none has demonstrated the connection from a justice perspective by linking theory and practice. This paper fills this gap by using Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness and the conceptual structure of justice designed by Stumpf et al. to establish the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon as a case of justice. The objective of this case study is to emphasize the dangers of biased policies and to stress the place of democracy in ensuring justice. The study thus generates a concept of justice called Foundational Justice as a solution. This concept argues that effective democratic institutions can ensure the application of justice by targeting the foundation of a society. In 2016, mass demonstrations broke out across the two Anglophone regions and resulted in an armed conflict that is ongoing and has recorded over 6000 deaths. Anglophones claim that government policies since the 1960s have erased their autonomy and compromised their identity. While some demand for the restoration of the state of West Cameroon, others are asking for an independent state called Ambazonia.