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Vassar College

Publication Date

Fall 2008

Program Name

Cameroon: Development and Social Change

Abstract

Beginning in the early 20th century, and culminating at the Bandung conference in 1955, the Third World began to consolidate itself as an international bloc around a philosophy of self rule and international solidarity. Cameroon’s Union des Populations the Cameroun (UPC) embraced this project from its inception, and maintained a strong internationalist agenda throughout its existence as it struggled for Cameroon’s independence, first from French trusteeship, and then from what was, in its view, an illegitimate neo-colonial government. International solidarity was not merely a rhetorical tool for the UPC, but was rather an essential part of their strategy to achieve their national goals. The party attempted to put the objectives of Third World solidarity in to practice through a number of projects, most notably in the cultivation of personal and political relationships between the party’s elite and emerging Third World Leaders, and educational and military exchange. This work is intended to provide a body of historical evidence of the participation of the UPC in the Third World Internationalist Movement.

Disciplines

International Relations | Political Science

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