Dialectic of the Empty and the Full in the Construction of State Order in Cameroon

Special Report: Varia
Thoughts on Channels of Communication
By Joseph Keutcheu
English

In this article the author sets out to integrate into a classical political science issue the construction of state order, which is generally relegated to the status of mere communication infrastructure. Envisaged from the perspective of Karl Deutsch, communication channels are objects that have meaning in the construction of the Cameroonian state. The link between circulation and political integration overturns the enchanting vision of the state, and removes the substantialist, naturalist and fixist vision of the concept of a Cameroonian state brandished by many as a totem or repeated compulsively as an obvious fact, without it being possible to clearly define its content, functions or existence. The aim is therefore to extend the understanding of the state beyond its classical reference frameworks (elites, political parties, political institutions, etc.) which alone do not suffice. Reflection on political integration thus takes place from more practical questions of the circulation and the construction of communication channels, and of the physical integration of the territory. We discover that the tendency for dichotomy between spaces of “hard state territorialisation” and “soft state territorialisation” entail the fragmentation of the Cameroonian “we” and the bricolage of the construction of the Cameroonian nation state.

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