Crises sécuritaires et contraintes budgétaires au Cameroun : étude croisée de boko haram et de la crise anglophone (2014-2024)

Abstract

From 2014, Cameroon has been facing numerous security crises, the analysis of which falls within the framework of security crises and budgetary constraints of the Cameroonian: a cross-analysis of Boko Haram and the Anglophone crisis (2014-2024). Among these are notably the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North region since 2014, characterized by transnational violence with a jihadist dimension, and the anglophone crisis in the North-West and South-West regions (since 2016), rooted in politico-identity and institutional grievances. These conflicts occur in a context of structural vulnerabilities market by rural poverty, youth unemployment, the weakness of the local state, and insufficient social investments. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of these crises on Cameroon’s budgetary constraints between 2014 and 2024, by examining how they have altered the structure of the national budget, reoriented spending priorities, and affected the State’s fiscal space. The methodological approach is based on a mixed-methods design combining documentary analysis (finance laws, reports from MONFI, MINEPAT, IMF, and the World Bank), the exploitation of budgetary and macroeconomic data series, as well as semi-structured interviews conducted with institutional and territorial actors. Findings reveal that, despite their different origins, both crises produced similar fiscal effects: a significant and sustained rise in security expenditure, proliferation of emergency funds, compression of social and productive sectors, widening of the fiscal deficit and public debt, and increased dependence on external financing. While these expenditures helped contain the immediate threats, they weakened the state’s long-term investment capacity. The study concludes that sustainable stabilization requires a rationalization of security spending, greater budgetary transparency, effective decentralization, and strengthened local economies.