Fighting African conflicts and crimes: which governance tools matter?

Simplice Asongu and Oasis Kodila-Tedika

International Journal of Social Economics, 2016, vol. 43, issue 5, 466-485

Abstract: Purpose - – Crimes and conflicts are seriously undermining African development. The purpose of this paper is to assess the best governance tools in the fight against the scourges. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors assess a sample of 38 African countries. Owing to the cross-sectional structure of the data set, the authors adopt a heteroscedasticity consistent ordinary least squares estimation technique. For further robustness purposes, the authors employ Ramsey’s regression equation specification error test. Findings - – The following findings are established. First, democracy, autocracy and voice and accountability have no significant negative correlations with crime. Second, the increasing relevance of government quality in the fight is as follows: regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability, rule of law and corruption-control. Third, corruption-control is the most effective mechanism in fighting crime (conflicts). Practical implications - – The findings are significantly strong when controlling for age dependency, number of police (and security) officers, per capita economic prosperity, educational level and population density. Justifications for the edge of corruption-control (as the most effective governance tool) and policy implications are discussed. Originality/value - – The study is timely given the political instability, wars and conflicts currently marring African development.

Keywords: Africa; Security; Governance; Conflicts; Crimes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (183)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Fighting African Conflicts and Crimes: Which Governance Tools Matter? (2013)
Working Paper: Fighting African Conflicts and Crimes: Which Governance Tools Matter? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:43:y:2016:i:5:p:466-485

DOI: 10.1108/IJSE-11-2014-0233

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