ABSTRACT
It is very difficult to understand contemporary security in Cameroon without considering Cameroon’s history and the security issues which shaped its history and politics. This chapter invites the reader to give a thought to the political context in contemporary Cameroon and thus how the security systems (discussed in this book) emerged. This chapter investigates the nature of governance, especially security governance, in the different polities which covered the territory colonised by the Germans. It goes further to account for the politics of German colonisation and the consequent security situation. It explores the partitioning of Cameroon during the First World War in 1916 and the interwar period. After the Second World War, the nature of politics in the European empires changed significantly as many of the colonies began to question their status. At the forefront of the demands for independence was the Union de Population Camerounaise (UPC) and its version of complete and immediate independence and reunification of the Cameroons referred to as upcism. The war of independence initiated by upcism and the resulting la guerre contre subversif (the war against subversion) launched by the French is argued to be one of the key determinants of security in Cameroon to date.
