The comparative African economics of inclusive development and military expenditure in fighting terrorism

This study investigates the role of inclusive human development and military expenditure in fighting terrorism in 53 African countries for the period 1998-2012. The empirical evidence is based on contemporary, non-contemporary and instrumental variable Fixed Effects regressions. Inclusive development is not a sufficient condition for the fight against terrorism whereas military expenditure can be effectively employed to mitigate the phenomenon. Significant negative effects are established only when endogeneity is accounted for by means of non-contemporary and instrumental-variables approaches. Hence, the policy effectiveness of employed tools is contingent on whether they are engaged proactively (i.e. non-contemporarily) or not. From the findings, the propensity of military expenditure to fight transnational terrorism is higher in: (i) middle income countries vis-à-vis their low income counterparts; (ii) oil-rich countries compared to oil-poor countries and (iii) Christian-dominated countries vis-à-vis their Islam-oriented counterparts. Furthermore military expenditure is also more effective at combating domestic and transnational terrorism in: (i) North African countries vis-à-vis their sub-Saharan Africa counterparts; (ii) landlocked countries compared to countries that are open to the sea and (iii) politically-stable countries vis-à-vis their politically-unstable counterparts. Contributions to the comparative economics are discussed. Practical and theoretical contributions are also provided.