Multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and human development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A panel data analysis

Abstract

Background: The reintroduction of multiparty democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa during the early 90s and the persistent poor human development performance of the region, have sparked several controversies regarding the need for such a political system in Africa. In the extant literature, these controversies have been characterized by fierce theoretical debates as to whether multiparty democracy influences human development and the scholarly contention that social cohesion, rather than this form of democracy, ameliorates human development. The present study examines these controversies along with the perception of Sub-Saharan African populations concerning the democratic transition and its impact on their well-being. Methods: A panel data analysis of 35 countries was conducted between 1995 to 2019 in order to determine the effect of multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and their interaction on human development. Fixed-effects and system generalized methods of moments estimations were used to control for specific characteristics. Results: The study found that, multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and the interaction between these two variables have a positive long-term effect on human development. More importantly, the study revealed that social cohesion decreases the negative influence of multiparty democracy on human development. Conclusions: Overall, the findings of this study suggest that multiparty democracy is likely to improve the well-being of the populations of Sub-Saharan Africa if the degree of social cohesion is sufficiently high. That also means that social cohesion is susceptible to dampening the negative effect of multiparty democracy on human development in the context of this study. As such, social cohesion is critical in terms of the extent to which multiparty democracy wields influence on human development outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Based on these conclusions, a number of policy recommendations are discussed in the present study towards the achievement of sustained human development in the Sub-Saharan African region.