International Summer School on Public Policy - Yaoundé 2024

Mireille Manga Edimo & Abdoul Karim Saidou's course

English-speaking course

R. Mireille Manga Edimo (University of Yaoundé II)

R. Mireille Manga Edimo is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC) in the University of Yaoundé II. She is also the Vice-President of the International Public Policy Association and Convenor of the African Public Policy Network (African-PPN) at IPPA. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Buea in Cameroon, a diploma of advanced studies (DEA), and a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Yaoundé II. She is a former PhD fellow at Sciences Po / CEVIPOF, Paris, France (2007-2010). In 2023, she was a visiting research fellow at the UMR SENS/IRD Montpellier (France), where she has been collaborating on a research project on Globalization and Forest Governance in the Congo Basin. She teaches Public Policy, Foreign Policy, and Political Communication at IRIC/University of Yaoundé II Cameroon. She also has teaching experience in France in the domain of International Political Economy, New Forms of Political Participation, and Migrations and Diasporas Policies. Her publications and research in public policies cover topics such as Expertise on the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, Elections and political mobilizations on Social Media, Diasporas Engagement and Migration Policies, Antiterrorist policies, and Experts’ knowledge.

Abdoul Karim Saidou (University of Thomas Sankara, Burkina-Faso)

Abdoul Karim Saidou is an associate professor of political science and lecturer at Thomas Sankara University in Burkina Faso. He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University of Nigeria, a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) and a doctorate from Thomas Sankara University in the same discipline. Since 2022, he has been the scientific director of the master's degree in political science and head of the "Political Sociology and Public Action" team within the Laboratory of Law and Political Science. Saidou has also been an associate lecturer at the Abdou Moumouni University of Niger since 2022 and, since 2015, West Africa regional coordinator of the “Varieties of Democracy” (V-dem) project at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden).

His work mainly focuses on the State, democratization, public policies and security in the Sahel, particularly in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. His latest publications are:

- “Africa facing the dilemma of the two 'Chinas': constructivist analysis of foreign policy based on the cases of Niger and Burkina Faso” (Canadian Journal of Political Science, 2023)

- “The gender quota as a government technique in Burkina Faso: between change of instruments and political inertia” (Afrique Contemporaine, 2023)

- “Security as a campaign issue: programmatic mobilization in Burkina Faso’s 2020 elections (Democratization, with E. Bertrand, 2022)

Course: Studying public policies through their instruments: Public Policy Instruments in African Contexts

Contextualization stimulates comparison and refines categories (Tilly et al., 2011). Defined as how governments and their partners design solutions to solve policy issues, the policy process must consider contextual dimensions that transform policy tools. In this course, we suggest looking at the policy instruments in Africa as a way to highlight the peculiarity of policy instruments in the historical context of African political settings and democratization, regimes’ change, and political crises. This course pays particular attention to the interactions of governments with civil society organizations, diasporas, diplomatic partners, and private companies as multidimensional policy tools. It is designed for PhD students and early career scholars in political science, policy studies, and public policy analysis. It aims to reinforce and build policy students' theoretical and analytical capacity in studying policy instruments in African contexts. The course draws on existing ‘contemporary approaches’ in the public policy literature, including the pragmatist, constructivist, argumentative, and ‘‘instrumentation’’ approaches.