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Several studies have found that Cameroon lacks a clear regulatory framework for renewable energy. This paper investigates the cause of the phenomenon by focusing on the factors that obstruct renewable energy (RE) regulation in Cameroon. This study identifies a lack of political will as the most significant factor contributing to Cameroon's lack of an explicit legal and policy framework for renewable energy through semi-structured interviews with 17 RE experts from the private and public sectors. Other factors that have been highlighted include low institutional capacity and the lack of institutional collaboration. Through a documentary review, this paper compares Cameroon's renewable energy policies to those of two other developing countries, South Africa and Chile. In contrast to Cameroon, the results show that South Africa and Chile have clear RE policies and a greater capacity for renewable energy production than Cameroon. This paper recommends that Cameroon establish a clear legal and policy framework for RE, promote the inclusion of RE in academic curricula to boost R&D in RE, improve on in-service training on RE technologies for government agents, increase full participation of all relevant Ministries and stakeholders in RE projects, and establish good fiscal and financial policies that can boost private investment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT	i
ABSTRACT	ii
LIST OF FIGURES	v
LIST OF TABLES	vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION	1
1.1.	Objective and Significance of the Study	3
1.2.	Research Question	4
1.3.	Structure	4
CHAPTER TWO: 	CAMEROON IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE	5
2.1.	Case of South Africa	5
2.2.	Case of Chile	9
2.3.	Case of Cameroon	13
CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL ARGUMENT	17
3.1.	Internal Obstacles	17
3.1.1.	Low Institutional Capacity	17
3.1.2.	The Lack of Institutional Collaboration	19
3.2	External Obstacle: The Lack of Private Investment	21
CHAPTER FOUR: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS	23
4.1.	Method	23
4.2.	Findings	24
4.2.1.	General Explanation: Reason for Lack of Renewable Energy Regulation	25
4.2.2.	Explanatory 1: Low Institutional Capacity	28
4.2.3.	Explanation 2: Lack of Institutional collaboration	37
4.2.4.	Explanatory 3: Lack of Private Investment	43
4.2.5.	Summary of findings	51
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION	54
5.1.	Implications	54
5.1.1.	Political Implications	54
5.1.2.	Socio-Economic Implications	56
5.1.3.	Environmental implications	57
5.2.	Recommendations	58
5.3.	Conclusion	61
5.4.	Limitation of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research	62
BIBLIOGRAPHY	63
APPENDIXES	67