Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians

For the past 8 years, Cameroon has been witnessing a deadly conflict between anglophone separatist fighters and the Cameroon military over the form of governance. This study seeks to highlight anglophone attitudes and preferences towards forms of governance, as well as the differences between men an...

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Main Author: Elvis Nshom
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/1/40
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author Elvis Nshom
author_facet Elvis Nshom
author_sort Elvis Nshom
collection DOAJ
description For the past 8 years, Cameroon has been witnessing a deadly conflict between anglophone separatist fighters and the Cameroon military over the form of governance. This study seeks to highlight anglophone attitudes and preferences towards forms of governance, as well as the differences between men and women and between northwesterners and southwesterners, i.e., the inhabitants of the two English-speaking regions in Cameroon, with respect to this question. In addition, it explores the relationship between age and attitudes toward the form of state. In a sample of 314 participants, the results show that men were more supportive of an independent state than women, but women were more supportive of a federal state than men. On the other hand, support for a unitary state, the current form of state, was extremely low, and there was no significant difference between men and women. Also, this study shows that there is no significant difference between anglophones from the northwest region and anglophones from the southwest region in terms of their support for an independent state, a federal state, and a unitary state. Lastly, the results indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between age and support for an independent state, a significant negative correlation between age and support for a federal state, and a nonsignificant negative correlation between age and support for a unitary state. The implications, limitations, and recommendations of this study are discussed as well.
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spelling doaj-art-6a17ffce1da943078671ef68c1b7e8ee2025-01-24T13:49:45ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602025-01-011414010.3390/socsci14010040Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone CamerooniansElvis Nshom0Department of Communication, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA 92096, USAFor the past 8 years, Cameroon has been witnessing a deadly conflict between anglophone separatist fighters and the Cameroon military over the form of governance. This study seeks to highlight anglophone attitudes and preferences towards forms of governance, as well as the differences between men and women and between northwesterners and southwesterners, i.e., the inhabitants of the two English-speaking regions in Cameroon, with respect to this question. In addition, it explores the relationship between age and attitudes toward the form of state. In a sample of 314 participants, the results show that men were more supportive of an independent state than women, but women were more supportive of a federal state than men. On the other hand, support for a unitary state, the current form of state, was extremely low, and there was no significant difference between men and women. Also, this study shows that there is no significant difference between anglophones from the northwest region and anglophones from the southwest region in terms of their support for an independent state, a federal state, and a unitary state. Lastly, the results indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between age and support for an independent state, a significant negative correlation between age and support for a federal state, and a nonsignificant negative correlation between age and support for a unitary state. The implications, limitations, and recommendations of this study are discussed as well.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/1/40independent statefederal stateunitary stateanglophone conflictCameroongender differences
spellingShingle Elvis Nshom
Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians
Social Sciences
independent state
federal state
unitary state
anglophone conflict
Cameroon
gender differences
title Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians
title_full Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians
title_fullStr Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians
title_full_unstemmed Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians
title_short Independent State, Federal State, or Unitary State? Age, Gender, and Regional Differences Among Anglophone Cameroonians
title_sort independent state federal state or unitary state age gender and regional differences among anglophone cameroonians
topic independent state
federal state
unitary state
anglophone conflict
Cameroon
gender differences
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/1/40
work_keys_str_mv AT elvisnshom independentstatefederalstateorunitarystateagegenderandregionaldifferencesamonganglophonecameroonians