Africa on the Maps of Global Values: Comparative Analyses, Based on Recent World Values Survey Data

Abstract

This paper attempts to close a gap in the recent literature on African economic development: the place of Africa on the maps of global economic, political and social values. We develop new comparable indices of global value development from the latest set of World Values Survey data and determine Africa’s place on a new factor analytical index of Global Civil Society. Our statistical calculations were performed by the routine and standard SPSS statistical program (SPSS XXIV), available at many academic research centers around the world and relied on the so-called oblique rotation of the factors, underlying the correlation matrix. The SPSS routine chosen in this context was the so-called promax rotation of factors, which in many ways must be considered to be the best suited rotation of factors in the context of our research. Our analysis of the World Values Survey data derived the following factor analytical scales, well compatible with a large social scientific literature: 1. The non-violent and law-abiding society 2. Democracy movement 3. Climate of personal non-violence 4. Trust in institutions 5. Happiness, good health 6. No redistributive religious fundamentalism 7. Accepting the market 8. Feminism 9. Involvement in politics 10. Optimism and engagement 11. No welfare mentality, acceptancy of the Calvinist work ethics The spread in the performance of African countries with complete data is really amazing. While we are especially hopeful about the development of future democracy in Ghana, our article suggests pessimistic tendencies for Egypt and Algeria, and especially for Africa’s leading economy, South Africa. High Human Inequality, as measured by the UNDP’s Human Development Report’s Index of Human Inequality, further impairs the development of Human Security. One can maintain that the certain recent optimism, corresponding to economic and human rights data, emerging from Africa, is reflected also in our Index of the Development of Civil Society. There is at least some hope for Africa, on this front, too.