Milton Krieger – författare

African State and Society in the 1990s is the first comprehensive English-language book to appear on Cameroon's political events since 1989. Designed for academic and policy studies readers, it covers developments from the 1960s to the present as background for an analysis of the continuing conflict since 1990 between the regime and political oppos

African State and Society in the 1990s is the first comprehensive English language book to appear on Cameroon''s political events since 1989. Designed for academic and policy studies readers, it covers developments from the 1960s to the present as background for an analysis of the continuing conflict since 1990 between the regime and political oppos

African State and Society in the 1990s is the first comprehensive English language book to appear on Cameroon''s political events since 1989. Designed for academic and policy studies readers, it covers developments from the 1960s to the present as background for an analysis of the continuing conflict since 1990 between the regime and political oppos

African State and Society in the 1990s is the first comprehensive English-language book to appear on Cameroon's political events since 1989. Designed for academic and policy studies readers, it covers developments from the 1960s to the present as background for an analysis of the continuing conflict since 1990 between the regime and political opposition over democratization. Based on extensive research in Cameroon between 1989 and 1995 in the form of interviews, independent press articles, and major political parties' writings, African State and Society in the 1990s details political confrontations?evolving from bullets to ballots?in the context of a sharply declining economy and a society wrought with ethnic, linguistic, and constitutional tensions. The authors show how the competitive stakes rise as a previously effective political class faces unsubdued challenges to its hegemony over major enterprises. The uncertainty is heightened by the fact that no coherent alliance or potentially successor group has yet emerged from the opposition forces, which now operate across Cameroon's social landscape.The book's analysis of the disarray raises hard questions about whether the nation-state can still serve as a model of stability. The national elections in 1997 make the book particularly timely as a specific case study?applicable to Africa at large?that gives insights into the chances for successful resolution of the continent's volatile political conflicts.

"e; Cameroon's Social Democratic Front (SDF) was among the watershed challenges c.1990 by sub-Saharan Africa's democratization forces against autocratic regimes, but it crested in 1992 and has subsided since. Yet the party survives, participates in the National Assembly, maintains a grass roots structure, and prepares for a presidential ballot in 2011 that will likely determine its fate. The author conducted research four times in Cameroon, 1989-1999, focusing on the SDF since 1991, and maintains party contacts to the present. The book assesses its history and its prospects, covering the SDF in Africa-wide as well as Cameroonian terms. "e;"e;Krieger has given us the first, superbly researched, finely tuned analysis of the fortunes of a major contemporary African opposition party, Cameroon's Social Democratic Front (SDF)."e;"e; - Victor Le Vine, Washington University, St. Louis, USA. "e;"e;The book goes far beyond its title and puts in context a daylight re-emergence of political opposition in Cameroon. To say that this long overdue history of the SDF party is a prolegomena to understanding contemporary Cameroon social forces is not an overstatement."e;"e; - Ambroise Kom, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. "e;"e;...a level-headed but provocative examination of the structure and workings of a major African country...the sobriety with which he evaluates institutions and leadership is commendable, yielding exceptional analysis that will stand the test of time."e;"e; - Toyin Falola, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria. Milton Krieger started teaching and research about sub-Saharan Africa in 1970. Nine trips there include four research visits providing two years time in Cameroon, 1989-99. The second, 1991, coincided with 'villes mortes' and turned his primary scholarship to the Social Democratic Front. Access to party documents, officials, and rank and file members included visitor status at the 1995 and 1999 national conventions. Party contacts continue to the present."e;

This book addresses Cameroon,s culture, education and language policies since independence, scholarship on and vigorous debate about them, their bearings on different visions of national development, and their place in the political struggle between autocracy and democracy since 1990. A synoptic view of half a century,s key experiences, issues and fault lines emerges.