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Commentary
(3) coup-proofing increases the likelihood of civil war.
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First, as expected by previous authors, inequality heightens the risks of political
violence – including in the form of civil wars – by generating conflicts over the
distribution of resources. I refer to this as inequality's direct effect.
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Second, inequality has also an indirect effect, which operates through its influence
on the structure of the military. This effect builds on the important work of Svolik
(2012,2013), who argues that unequal countries tend to have stronger militaries.
Rulers of such countries are more likely to face threats from the population, which
forces them to delegate more power to the military in order to quell unrest. This
logic further suggests that inequality reduces the ability of rulers to coup-proof,
since such tactics reduce the capacity of the military to repress
"Inequality, Coup-Proofing and Civil Wars," n.d., 33. (June 2015)
Houle, Christian.
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Michigan State University
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Some factors will act as a brake on future economic development in Africa
Some would say it’s a race against time. Major factors that undermine governance and
economic development can be expected to increasingly act as a brake against further
economic development..
The next few decades will see a large-scale increase in the numbers of young people
entering the workforce. It’s highly probable that many of these will find it difficult to find
formal employment. This will have negative consequences across governance and
political stability.
There are causal linkages between the size of a country’s
informal economy and governance
youthful population and political instability
political instability and lack of progress in development
See the following :
Political instability & Africa’s youthful population
Richard Cincotta has found that the chance of a country being a stable democracy exceeds 50%
only once it has progressed in its demographic transition to the point where its median age is 29.5
33; the chances of being a stable democracy rise to 80% when median age reaches 35.46 With a