What founds the legitimacy of a state?

What creates the support of the people to power embodied by the state? In Central Africa, are there other institutions - religious, traditional, community based - that compete with states in their role of legitimate authority?

Gathered over three days of debate, the Yaoundé Meeting participants came to share their experiences and opinions so as to collectively find concrete answers to these questions.

Beyond reflections on the legitimacy of state power, the challenge is to recreate cohesion in our societies. How to take social diversity into account in the collective social contract? To which extent do the exercise of power and public action need to be transformed to meet these challenges?

In what way can a constitution legally transcribe the establishment of a new social contract, more inclusive of diversity?

Based on the experiences of the African, South American, and European participants, the IRG proposes in this work a perspective of the debates of this fourth stage of the International Meeting Process for Debate and Proposals on Governance in Africa.

No definitive statements but key elements to inform and enrich our understanding of the state in times of political crisis.

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