The Comparative African Economics of Governance in Fighting Terrorism

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study assesses the comparative economics of governance in fighting terrorism in fifty-three African countries for period 1996–2012. Four terrorism variables are used: domestic, transnational, unclear, and total terrorism dynamics. Nine bundled and unbundled governance variables are employed: political stability (no violence), voice and accountability, political governance, government effectiveness, regulation quality, economic governance, corruption control, the rule of law, and institutional governance. The empirical evidence is based on fixed effects regressions. In the analytical procedure, we first bundle governance indicators by means of principal component analysis before engaging the empirical exercise with the full sample. In the final step, specifications are based on a decomposed full sample in order to articulate the fundamental characteristics for comparative purposes. The following broad findings are established. First, good governance is an appealing tool in fighting terrorism. Second, the relevance of the good governance dynamics is as follows in order of increasing relevance: economic governance, institutional governance, and political governance. The findings are presented in increasing order of magnitude to emphasize fundamental features in which governance dynamics have the highest effect in mitigating terrorism.