<p>The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon&rsquo / s political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity.</p>

<p>Governing an ethnically diverse country constitutes a major challenge for state power and government in Cameroon. The call for national unity, championed by the regime in power has had to survive strong demands for greater autonomy and threats of secession by groups from within an English-speaking minority. In response to these demands and threats, and in conjunction with reforms to improve democratic governance and service delivery, Cameroon&rsquo / s state administration has in the last decade resorted to decentralization as a technique for promoting national unity. The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon&rsquo / s political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it&nbsp / simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity.</p>

The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon's national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon's national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon's political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity. / Magister Legum - LLM

Governing an ethnically diverse country constitutes a major challenge for state power and government in Cameroon. The call for national unity, championed by the regime in power has had to survive strong demands for greater autonomy and threats of secession by groups from within an English-speaking minority. In response to these demands and threats, and in conjunction with reforms to improve democratic governance and service delivery,Cameroon’s state administration has in the last decade resorted to decentralization as a technique for promoting national unity. The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon’s national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon’s national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon’s political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity. / Magister Legum - LLM

By-laws are considered to be one of the primary tools of local government to enable them to manage and regulate the affairs of their constituent jurisdictions. It is therefore of critical importance that bylaws are current, not in conflict with provincial and national legislation, efficient and in line with practical requirements, and empowers the local authority sufficiently to manage its own affairs. There are three major causes that require local authorities to change and update by-laws. The first major cause is the reorganisation of the pre-1994 municipal boundaries. The second is the change to a constitutional dispensation that created three distinct spheres of government with their defined areas of legislative and executive powers. The third is the new order environmental legislation and philosophy that is in line with internationally accepted principles of sustainable development and human rights, and differs from the pre- 1994 legislation. The principle of cooperative governance requires local authorities not to be in conflict with other organs of state or national and provincial legislation. The result is that many local authorities require new by-laws, including waste management by-laws. Many such projects were undertaken by local authorities, one by the City of Johannesburg as part of the iGoli 2000 project. The by-laws also have to adequately capacitate the local authority to regulate all aspects of waste management in a practical and functional manner. These practical and functional requirements must be considered and included in the waste management by-laws where relevant. A guideline should as a minimum cover the following elements: -ensuring cooperative governance, -ensuring compliance with specific requirements set by the Constitution and other legislation such as the Municipal Systems Act, -alignment of by-laws with the legal mechanisms available for service delivery, and -ensuring it provides guidance on what elements should be considered to meet the practical and functional requirements of local authorities. This dissertation provides a guideline that meets criteria set out in legislation, policies and strategies. The discussion encompasses a vast field of the law and waste management practice, and attempts to provide local authorities with an introduction and references to the most salient aspects that has to be considered when drafting and implementing waste management by-laws. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

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La Polynésie française, collectivité d'outre-mer, vit sous le régime juridique de l'autonomie depuis 1977. Ce n'est toutefois qu'à partir de 1984 que les attributions et les symboles d'une véritable autonomie commencent à échoir à la collectivité. Or l'autonomie dans la République est source de nombreuses difficultés juridiques, entre respect d'un principe de subsidiarité à son paroxysme et conciliation des droits et libertés fondamentaux garantis par la République. Ainsi, trente années après les véritables débuts de l'autonomie polynésienne, il est désormais temps de dresser un bilan juridique et politique de l'application dans la collectivité d'un tel régime juridique. Afin de parvenir à un bilan le plus significatif possible, ce travail de recherche propose d'analyser les principales matières qui sont le soubassement du développement d'un territoire, matières dont les compétences ont été transférées à la collectivité territoriale. Ainsi, une analyse juridique et des politiques publiques issues des compétences suivantes est dressée : droit, économie, fiscalité, éducation, santé publique. De surcroît, cette recherche est l'occasion de déterminer les causes de l'échec relatif de l'autonomie polynésienne : gouvernance politique locale, statuts juridiques ou encore vacance étatique. Enfin, un bilan ne peut trouver d'intérêt que dans la projection qu'il peut susciter et il convenait donc de discuter de l'avenir de la Polynésie française, à la fois dans son développement économique et social local et dans sa relation à la République, relation qui pose à nouveau la problématique du délitement hypothétique de l'état unitaire à la française / French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity, has lived under an autonomy regime since 1977. However, it has only been since 1984 that the attributions and the symbols of a true autonomy have started to fall into the collectivity's hands. Yet, autonomy in the Republic is the source of many legal difficulties, between respecting a principle to its paroxysm and the arbitration of fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed by the Republic. Therefore, thirty years after the real start of Polynesian autonomy, it is about time to draw up a report in the most significant way possible. This research work offers an analysis of the main matters which consist of the foundation of the development of a territory, matters which competences have been transferred to the territorial collectivity. Thereby, a legal analysis and an analysis of the public politics issued from the following competences is drawn up : law, economy, tax system, education and public health. Moreover, this research is an opportunity to determine the causes of a failure in regards to Polynesian autonomy : local political governance, legal statuses or even state vacuum. Finally, such an assessment can only be of interest thanks to the projection it can provoke, and it was thus suitable to discuss the future of French Polynesia concerning both its local social and economical development as well as its relationship with the Republic, a relationship that arouses again the problematic of the hypothetical dismantling of the French unitary state

Repenser l’action administrative dans le nouveau continuum sécurité/défense est devenu un impératif dans la mesure où l’ordonnancement institutionnel administratif constitue le socle de l’action sécuritaire. Il fallut dresser un état des lieux de l’évolution des notions de sécurité et de défense, devenues les deux faces d’une même médaille, sur le fonctionnement de l’administration. La consistance de la sécurité ne cessant de s’accroître, les outils mis à la disposition de ces objectifs étatiques ont été adaptés pour réorganiser les acteurs au sein d’une rénovation du cadre sémantique de la sécurité. La redéfinition des rapports entre l’Etat et les collectivités territoriales a nécessité la réorganisation de leur carte territoriale et de leurs moyens en matière de sécurité et de défense. Cela a néanmoins complexifié les rapports entre les différents niveaux de l’administration, conduisant les acteurs institutionnels, avec le concours de l’institution militaire, à rechercher des solutions alternatives. Ceci s’est notamment traduit par le développement de partenariats contractuels entre personnes publiques et par le développement de la coopération transfrontalière et la prise en compte de l’influence européenne / Rethinking administrative action within the new security/defense continuum has become imperative since the institutional set-up constitutes the basis for security action. It was of paramount importance to assess the impact that the evolution of the notions of security and defense - now become the two faces of the same coin - bears on the functioning of the administration. This is all the more essential since the substance of security keeps expanding. The tools available to meet these objectives have been adapted to re-organize the partners’ roles with a view to overhauling the semantic framework of security within a territorial reorganization, allowing redefining the relationships between the State and the local authorities. Complexity has however impeded the relationships between the various administrations, involving institutional partners with those of defense. Solutions have been sought through the development of partnerships between public entities, opting for supranational options and particularly European trans-border cooperations

Les relations internationales attestent d’un nombre sans cesse croissant d’entités les animant. Cette situation conduit à favoriser le chevauchement entre sphère publique et privée, et dès lors, la confusion observée quant aux différents protagonistes pouvant intervenir dans celles-ci. Ce faisant, il devient de plus en plus difficile de différencier un simple acteur du droit, d’un authentique sujet de droit, au sein de bien des domaines d’activité et ce, même dans les matières traditionnellement régaliennes. Dans cette perspective, on l’aura compris, les critères de distinction classiquement entendus jusqu’alors semblent se révéler de moins en moins pertinents, si ce n’est parfois en contradiction avec l’évolution de la société contemporaine. Dans cette optique, il semble résulter de la « logique uniformisante » induite par le « cadre mondial globalisé », que certaines différences de nature ne constituent plus que de simples altérités de degré. En ce sens, les catégories que l’on imaginait les plus stables, comme par exemple la classification des États selon leur nature supposée, peuvent subitement se retrouver soumises à discussion. A ce titre, le cas singulier d’un État français présenté théoriquement comme « unitaire décentralisé » - alors qu’il se révèle pourtant « autonomique », si ce n’est même « quasi-fédéral », lorsqu’il est appréhendé à l’aune de ses rapports avec ses entités infra-étatiques ultra-marines - constituera un formidable support d’analyse de l’évolution statutaire des échelons locaux, dans un monde dont l’ordonnancement est lui-même en pleine métamorphose.Cette observation s’inscrit dans un cheminement plus vaste, celui de la remise en cause de la prééminence de la logique « stato-centrée ». L’échelon local nous renseigne sur ce bouleversement, notamment au regard des actions qu’il mène en dehors de la figure étatique, et des enseignements qu’il convient d’en tirer. La présente étude se conçoit dès lors comme une invitation visant à dépasser bien des ambivalences à l’endroit de la « puissance territoriale ». Notamment cette considération théorique selon laquelle les collectivités infra-étatiques ne constitueraient que de simples prolongements organiques des États, dès lors qu’elles sont appréhendées en dehors du cadre normatif national pour mener l’analyse. La pratique observée dans bien des espaces du monde tend en effet à déboucher sur une toute autre conclusion: sous un angle fonctionnel, les entités infra-étatiques apparaissent davantage comme des sujets de droit - ce qu’elles constituent d’ailleurs déjà pleinement au sein de leur ordre juridique interne - plutôt que des objets de celui-ci. / This research is part of a broad process of questioning the pre-eminence of "stato-centered" logic. The local level informs us about this upheaval, in particular with regard to the actions it carries out outside the state figure, and the lessons to be drawn from it. The present study is therefore seen as an invitation to overcome many ambivalences towards "territorial power". In particular, this theoretical consideration that sub-state communities are merely organic extensions of states, when they are apprehended outside the national normative framework to carry out the analysis. The practice observed in many parts of the world is gradually turning into a different conclusion. From a functional point of view, sub-state entities appear more like subjects of law - which they already constitute fully within their internal legal order - rather than the objects of law.