The Internationalization of Local Government’s Actions in Cameroon: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper examines the international action of local governments since the promulgation of decentralized cooperation law in Cameroon. Following the promulgation of law, No 2004/017 of 22 July 2004 on the orientation of decentralization in Cameroon and the eventual signing into act of decree no. 2011/1116/PM of April 2011 fixing the modalities on decentralized cooperation, it was hoped that local governments in Cameroon were going to excel in international cooperation. In reality, for the past decades, the implication of local governments in international affairs and cooperation has gradually increased in the past decades. The increasing involvement of local governments in foreign policy and foreign relations activities is usually labeled as paradiplomacy. Not only has paradiplomacy spread to subnational or local governments across the world, but the range of issues addressed by local governments is far beyond economic policy, connecting to intermestic issues such as border security, energy, environmental protection, human rights, urbanization, governance, climate change, and migration. The main objective of this paper is to examine the degree of implication of local governments in Cameroon in paradiplomacy authorized by the decentralized cooperation decree of 2011. The main argument sustained in this paper is that despite the shortcomings of the 2011 decentralize cooperation decree in Cameroon, this law represents an opportunity for local governments in Cameroon to internationalize their actions and better position them in the dynamic world where the role of local government through diplomacy is gradually gaining more grounds. In fact, by engaging in international cooperation, Cameroonian local governments could secure more development partners and resources rather than depending solely on the limited subsidies from the central government.