Tribalism in Tribal Countries: How Does It Cause Corruption?

Yousif Abdelrahim

doi:10.5171/2021.106613

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between tribal factors of ethnic fractionalization, group grievance, gender inequality, indigenous population, and the country’s level of corruption. This study also explains how tribalism causes corruption in 132 countries worldwide.

Highlights

According to Transparency International (TI), approximately130 million Africans paid bribes in 2019 alone; either to get access to essential services or to escape penalty by the court and /or the police
Where LOC, GI, IP, EF, GG, ε and PI refer to corruption, gender inequality, indigenous population, ethnic fractionalization, group grievance, error and political instability, respectively
Ethnic fractionalization is the second most important tribal factor because it has a significant relationship with the level of corruption in two out of four regression models

Summary

Introduction

According to Transparency International (TI) (https://www.transparency.org/en/ pre ss/one-in-four-people-in-africa-paybribes-survey-says), approximately130 million Africans paid bribes in 2019 alone; either to get access to essential services or to escape penalty by the court and /or the police. Global Financial Integrity (www.gfintegrity.org/) reported that $1.1 trillion were lost to corruption in the world’s developing countries in 2013. Tribalism Index (TI), developed by the USF Global Initiative on Civil Society and Conflicts (http://usfglobalinitiative.org/tribalismindex/) has long recognized that tribalism (i.e., the perceptions of gender inequality, perceptions of grievance, linguistic and ethnic fractionalization) is one of these angles that plays an important role in corruption. Previous studies such as Abdelrahim’s (2019, 2020) empirically found a positive relationship between tribalism and corruption which confirms the TI findings

Methods

Results

Conclusion