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ABSTRACT: Terrorism has become an alarming issue in Africa due to its potential negative impact on the economy. The escalation of terrorist activities in the region has the capacity to discourage tourists from visiting Africa. This has led to the government increasing military expenditure for counterterrorism with the objective of combating the adverse effects of terrorism on the tourism industry and other sectors of the economy. The purpose of this research is to explore the effectiveness of military spending in offsetting the negative impact of terrorism on tourism in Africa. The study utilized data from 24 African countries between 2001 and 2018 and employed Prais-Winsten regression and Driscoll and Kraay-type Fixed Effects models. Both estimation strategies account for cross-sectional dependence, serial correlation, and heteroskedasticity. The Fixed effect model also accounts for unobserved heterogeneity, which can cause estimation bias when not accounted for. The study also utilizes the first lag of the explanatory variables as instruments for the endogenous variables in the Fixed Effects model to cushion the effect of simultaneity or reverse causality in the modeling. The findings show that both the number of terrorist incidents and the number of terrorist fatalities have negative effects on the number of tourist arrivals into Africa in the absence of military expenditure and when unobservable heterogeneity is considered. Further findings reveal that military expenditure is effective in offsetting the negative impact of the fatalities that arise from terrorism on the number of tourist arrivals in Africa, as revealed by both the interactive and net effects. Additionally, the analysis is expanded using disaggregated tourist data, and the results show that European tourists are more responsive to the use of military expenditure in offsetting the negative impact of terrorism than tourists from America, East Asia, and the Pacific. The policy implication of this study is that African countries must increase military expenditure if they are to effectively offset the negative effect of terrorism on the tourism industry. However, it is also crucial that essential expenditures on education and health are not foregone due to their long run influence on economic development.

The study empirically examined the impact of governance on domestic investment in 16 African countries with a balanced panel data set, between the years 2002 and 2015. The study employed six unbundled governance indicators from the World Bank, World Governance Indicators and constructed three bundled governance indicators using the Principal Component Analysis. The Driscoll and Kraay Fixed Effects model which accounts for serial correlation, groupwise heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence were employed with empirical results revealing that all the indicators of governance positively and significantly influence domestic investment in Africa, except for government effectiveness which happens to be insignificant. Also, Voice/Accountability and the Control of Corruption exert more influence on domestic investment as indicated by their coefficient values. Furthermore, economic growth is also an important factor in explaining domestic investment in Africa. Policy recommendations are discussed.

[Abstract] The study empirically examined the impact of governance on domestic investment in 16 African countries with a balanced panel data set, between the years 2002 and 2015. The study employed six unbundled governance indicators from the World Bank, World Governance Indicators and constructed three bundled governance indicators using the Principal Component Analysis. The Driscoll and Kraay Fixed Effects model which accounts for serial correlation, groupwise heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence were employed with empirical results revealing that all the indicators of governance positively and significantly influence domestic investment in Africa, except for government effectiveness which happens to be insignificant. Also, Voice/Accountability and the Control of Corruption exert more influence on domestic investment as indicated by their coefficient values. Furthermore, economic growth is also an important factor in explaining domestic investment in Africa. Policy recommendations are discussed.

The study empirically examined the impact of governance on domestic investment in 16 African countries with a balanced panel data set, between the years 2002 and 2015. The study employed six unbundled governance indicators from the World Bank, World Governance Indicators and constructed three bundled governance indicators using the Principal Component Analysis. The Driscoll and Kraay Fixed Effects model which accounts for serial correlation, groupwise heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence were employed with empirical results revealing that all the indicators of governance positively and significantly influence domestic investment in Africa, except for government effectiveness which happens to be insignificant. Also, Voice/Accountability and the Control of Corruption exert more influence on domestic investment as indicated by their coefficient values. Furthermore, economic growth is also an important factor in explaining domestic investment in Africa. Policy recommendations are discussed.

The study empirically examined the impact of governance on domestic investment in 16 African countries with a balanced panel data set, between the years 2002 and 2015. The study employed six unbundled governance indicators from the World Bank, World Governance Indicators and constructed three bundled governance indicators using the Principal Component Analysis. The Driscoll and Kraay Fixed Effects model which accounts for serial correlation, groupwise heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence were employed with empirical results revealing that all the indicators of governance positively and significantly influence domestic investment in Africa, except for government effectiveness which happens to be insignificant. Also, Voice/Accountability and the Control of Corruption exert more influence on domestic investment as indicated by their coefficient values. Furthermore, economic growth is also an important factor in explaining domestic investment in Africa. Policy recommendations are discussed.

The study empirically examined the impact of governance on domestic investment in 16 African countries with a balanced panel data set, between the years 2002 and 2015. The study employed six unbundled governance indicators from the World Bank, World Governance Indicators and constructed three bundled governance indicators using the Principal Component Analysis. The Driscoll and Kraay Fixed Effects model which accounts for serial correlation, groupwise heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence were employed with empirical results revealing that all the indicators of governance positively and significantly influence domestic investment in Africa, except for government effectiveness which happens to be insignificant. Also, Voice/Accountability and the Control of Corruption exert more influence on domestic investment as indicated by their coefficient values. Furthermore, economic growth is also an important factor in explaining domestic investment in Africa. Policy recommendations are discussed.

AbstractPrevailing literature recognizes that poverty may not act as a significant factor that spurs the level of terrorist activities. However, literature on the relationship between poverty and terrorism in Africa remains sparse. This study, therefore, investigates the influence of poverty on terrorism in 26 African countries from 2000 to 2017 in a panel data environment. Findings from the two‐stage least square regression, with standard errors which are heteroskedastic and autocorrelation consistent, show that poverty significantly raises the level of terrorism incidents. However, after accounting for unobserved heterogeneity, we find that the positive relationship between poverty and terrorism becomes insignificant. Further findings employing the instrumental variable quantile regression with fixed effects show that the existing levels of terrorism incidents matter for the impact of poverty on terrorism incidents. The result shows that the impact of poverty on terrorism is only significant at the median. Furthermore, economic growth, political stability, income inequality, and unemployment matter for terrorism in Africa. The study highlights that poverty is not a determining factor for terrorism in Africa when compared to economic growth, political stability, and unemployment. Recommendations are such that inclusive growth, political stability, and unemployment reduction should be prioritized in Africa.

AbstractThe nexus between democracy and peace in Africa is examined by applying data to 42 sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries between 2008 and 2020. The study used panel regression techniques that include Ordinary Least Squares, the Tobit regression to account for the limited range of the dependent variable, and the System Generalized Method of Moments to account for endogeneity bias. Using seven indicators of democracy, which include electoral democracy, liberal democracy, participatory democracy, deliberative democracy, egalitarian democracy, a total democracy index derived from principal component analysis, and the Polity2 score, and using the global peace index as a proxy for peace, our findings show that all the indicators of democracy, irrespective of the model, have a positive and significant influence on peace in SSA. The result has underscored the importance of advancing democratic practices and values to promote sustainable peace and stability in the region.Related ArticlesAntwi‐Boateng, Osman. 2015. "No Spring in Africa: How Sub‐Saharan Africa Has Avoided the Arab Spring Phenomenon." Politics & Policy 43(5): 754–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12129.Asongu, Simplice A., Cheikh T. Ndour, and Judith C. M. Ngoungou. 2024. "The Effects of Gender Political Inclusion and Democracy on Environmental Performance: Evidence from the Method of Moments by Quantile Regression." Politics & Policy, 52(1), 118–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12576.Ryan, Susannah. 2015. "White Gold and Troubled Waters in Southern Africa: Hydropolitical Policy's Effect on Peace in Lesotho and South Africa." Politics & Policy 4(2): 239–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12114.

AbstractObjectivesThis study has investigated the impact of democracy on the sustainability of the environment in 52 African countries between 1990 and 2020.MethodsThe study utilized the ordinary least square as the baseline estimation technique, the two‐stage least square to account for endogeneity, and the quantile regression to account for existing levels of carbon emissions (CO2), which is a proxy for environmental sustainability.ResultsOur findings show that improving the quality of African democracies will see a significant reduction in the level of CO2 emissions. Electoral and egalitarian democracy have a greater impact on reducing CO2 emissions in Africa and thus improving environmental sustainability. Further findings show that improving the quality of Africa's democracy will better dampen the level of CO2 emissions in African countries where the existing level of CO2 emissions is at its highest levels.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the importance of political institutions in improving environmental sustainability in Africa.

This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of militarization, governance, and democracy on human rights in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 2002 to 2018. The study employed the instrumental variable Fixed Effects model to account for simultaneity/reverse causality, and unobservable heterogeneity as well as the instrumental variable quantile regression with Fixed Effects to account for existing levels of human rights in SSA. Based on the Fixed Effects results, it is revealed that militarization significantly increases human rights violation in the region, while governance and democracy significantly improve human rights. Results from the quantile regression show that (1) the negative impact of militarization on human rights is observable across all quantiles, (2) the positive impact of the control of corruption on human rights is more pronounced in countries where the existing level of human rights is high, while political stability and rule of law exerts stronger impact on human rights in countries where the existing level of human rights is low, (3) the positive impact of democracy on human rights is stronger in countries where the existing level of human rights is high. Policy recommendations based on these findings are discussed.