İZOMORFİK DEĞİŞİME HAPSOLMAK MI? KAMERUN'UN TARİHSEL EŞİKLERİNE OLAN PATİKA BAĞIMLILIĞI

Abstract

Abstract This paper makes the case for the causal relation between national historical thresholds, isomorphic change, path dependency and the policy transfer of governance systems in a developing country emerging from a long ‘western domination.’ The study used the isomorphic change to trace back the trajectory of administrative reform in a developing country like Cameroon. The theory of path dependency has provided the needed tools to decipher the hidden dynamics of administrative models loosely adopted through the lenses of the multi-level account of policy transfer. Finally, the systematic analysis of the German protectorate from 1884 to 1916, the France and British mandate and trusteeship from 1916 to 1945 and from 1945 to 1956/57 respectively, laid out the policy transfer’s dynamics and the lock-in frame binding the Cameroonian administrative reform into an atypical furrow of largely ritualistic/ceremonial changes. The said changes are hiding long-lasting conformity to mores of neo-patrimonialism, strategic conformity to international standards and the increasing returns’ outcomes ascribing the country into a path dependent ‘trap’ since. By looking for causal assessment of historical sequences on today’s administrative outcomes in Cameroon, associated with a systematic and contextualised comparison of similar and contrasting cases, this research is conducted from the standpoint of comparative historical analysis. The core finding is that after several decades, Cameroon has adopted trajectories that remain fundamentally disconnected from domestic cultural and anthropological realities, producing hybrid, decoupled systems of governance. The study concludes that the historical cornerstones of Cameroon have promoted and served as fertile ground for the isomorphic reproduction and policy transfer of administrative models from former resident foreign countries (Germany, Great Britain and France).