The study investigates the root causes of the resurgence in conflicts across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
The study adopts a battery of econometric methods, including the panel VAR Granger, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test and the Driscoll and Kraay covariance matrix estimator.
The study reveals that income inequality fuels and contributes to conflict in the SSA. Specifically, we find that for some countries, there is a bidirectional relationship between income inequality and conflict. This suggests that income inequality may lead to conflicts and vice versa. The result is tenable since it has been affirmed that conflicts may contribute to disinvestment, which may worsen inequality, and inequality may, in turn, lead to a protraction of long-term conflicts. The study also shows that government quality, domestic investment, regime durability and education are important determinants of conflicts in SSA. For example, a highly unstable regime is likely to experience more conflicts. The research and policy implications are discussed.
The study examines the socioeconomic condition in which conflict in SSA is rooted.
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2024-0564.
