Atlas / Organisations / Personalist Presidential Rule
Personalist Presidential Rule
Biya, Cameroon · 1982– · Cameroon · Personalist · Held state power · coding confidence low
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
Four decades of single-person rule sustained by patronage, a divided opposition and the removal of term limits.
Economic model
Oil, timber and cocoa exports; a large state sector; substantial external debt.
Organisation of powers
Term limits abolished in 2008; the runner-up in the 2018 election was imprisoned.
Reading note
The anglophone conflict since 2017 has displaced hundreds of thousands. Coded at low confidence because independent reporting is constrained.
Check a claim about Personalist Presidential Rule. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored +03
Coded +3: oil, timber and cocoa exports with a large state sector.
- Documented act or statuteState enterprises dominate energy, transport and agro-industry.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +06
Coded +6: a conservative social order with regional and religious balancing.
- Documented act or statuteSame-sex relations are criminalised and prosecuted.
AU · Organisation of power · scored +09
Coded +9: term limits removed and the runner-up imprisoned.
- Documented act or statutePresidential term limits were abolished by constitutional amendment in 2008.
- Documented act or statuteThe second-placed candidate in the 2018 election was arrested and held for eight months.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +08
Coded +8: a unitary state that abolished the federal structure in 1972.
- Documented act or statuteThe federation of 1961 was replaced by a unitary republic by referendum in 1972, the root of the anglophone conflict.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +06
Coded +6: the anglophone regions treated as a security problem rather than a constitutional one.
- Documented act or statuteThe conflict since 2017 has displaced over 700,000 people and closed schools across two regions.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −06
Coded −6: continuity as the governing purpose.
- Documented act or statuteThe president has held office since 1982 without interruption.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Central Asian Presidentialism1.4
- Hashemite Monarchy2.6
- Moroccan Monarchy3.3
- Cambodian People's Party3.5
- Bismarckian State Conservatism3.6
- Absolute Monarchy3.9
Countries
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Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.