Recent developments have witnessed the emergence of civil society as a major development actor whose potentials and capacrty, especially in Africa, are often taken for granted and treated as limitless. A critical assessment of some of these structures (NGOs, religious organisations, trade unions, home-based associations, women's mobilisation structures, local community organisations, and the youth) and the legal and politicai context of the operaUon of civil society in Cameroon shows a popular effervescence that is visible in social development initiatrves. Although this would complement the state and free enterprise, it is however often frustrated by the state's suspicion in a context of rising social awareness and protest that is assimilated with political opposition or attempts at manipulation along partisan lines. This book is a call to reform the f ramework of civil society and assess its components and raies in shaping the future of Africa. Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo ls a Senior Lecturer ln Sociology. He obtained his Doctorate from the University of Yaoundé in 1991 and has served in several senior capacitles at the University of Buea. He is a member of several scholarly societies and has published several articles in scholarly journals and chapters in books on Sociology and Social Anthropology.