Fighting Terrorism in Africa: Benchmarking Policy Harmonization

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 492, pp. 1931-1957, 2018, DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2017.11.109

47 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2017 Last revised: 14 Dec 2017

See all articles by Simplice Asongu

Simplice Asongu

African Governance and Development Institute

Vanessa S. Tchamyou

African Governance and Development Institute

Jules Minkoua N.

University of Buea - Department of Economics and Management

Ndemaze Asongu

University of South Africa (UNISA) - Department of Communication Science

Nina Tchamyou

African Governance and Development Institute

Date Written: December 1, 2017

Abstract

This study assesses the feasibility of policy harmonization in the fight against terrorism in 53 African countries with data for the period 1980-2012. Four terrorism variables are used, namely: domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism dynamics. The empirical evidence is based on absolute beta catch-up and sigma convergence estimation techniques. There is substantial absence of catch-up. The lowest rate of convergence in terrorism is in landlocked countries for regressions pertaining to unclear terrorism (3.43% per annum for 174.9 years) while the highest rate of convergence is in upper-middle-income countries in domestic terrorism regressions (15.33% per annum for 39.13 years). After comparing results from the two estimation techniques, it is apparent that in the contemporary era, countries with low levels of terrorism are not catching-up their counterparts with high levels of terrorism. As a policy implication, whereas some common policies may be feasibly adopted for the fight against terrorism, the findings based on the last periodic phase (2004-2012) are indicative that country-specific policies would better pay-off in the fight against terrorism than blanket common policies. Some suggestions of measures in fighting transnational terrorism have been discussed in the light of an anticipated surge in cross-national terrorism incidences in the coming years.

Keywords: Terrorism; Common policies; Development

JEL Classification: C52; D74; F42; K42; O38

Suggested Citation

Asongu, Simplice and S. Tchamyou, Vanessa and Minkoua N., Jules and Asongu, Ndemaze and Tchamyou, Nina, Fighting Terrorism in Africa: Benchmarking Policy Harmonization (December 1, 2017). Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 492, pp. 1931-1957, 2018, DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2017.11.109, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3081099 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3081099

Simplice Asongu (Contact Author)

African Governance and Development Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 8413
Yaoundé, 8413
Cameroon

Vanessa S. Tchamyou

African Governance and Development Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 8413
Yaoundé, 8413
Cameroon

Jules Minkoua N.

University of Buea - Department of Economics and Management ( email )

Cameroon

Ndemaze Asongu

University of South Africa (UNISA) - Department of Communication Science ( email )

Pretoria
South Africa

Nina Tchamyou

African Governance and Development Institute ( email )

P.O. Box 18 SOA
Yaoundé, 1365
Cameroon

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
31
Abstract Views
527
PlumX Metrics