Post-Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Governance: A Policy Analysis of Cameroon's Structural Challenges, 2021-2026

This policy analysis examines the enduring influence of post-colonial institutional legacies on contemporary governance challenges in Cameroon, focusing on the period 2021–2026. Employing a historical institutionalist framework, it traces the path-dependent reproduction of structures inherited from colonial and early post-independence state formation. The methodology entails a systematic analysis of specific policy documents, legislative reforms, and governance indicators from this period to substantiate its claims. The findings reveal that, despite nominal decentralisation reforms, policymaking remains characterised by a highly centralised logic. This logic perpetuates ethno-regional marginalisation and weak accountability mechanisms, which in turn exacerbate centre-periphery tensions and systematically undermine the inclusion of women and minority groups in governance. The analysis further demonstrates how these entrenched institutional configurations have critically constrained state responses to concurrent crises, including the Anglophone conflict and public health emergencies. By explicitly linking historical political sociology with an empirical analysis of current policy bottlenecks, this research provides a rigorous, African-centred critique of institutional reform. It concludes that substantive progress requires moving beyond superficial adjustments to fundamentally re-evaluate governance architectures. The study advocates for policies that actively dismantle colonial-era hierarchies to foster genuinely inclusive and participatory governance.