Cultural conflicts and wellbeing in Africa

Abstract

Political instability and cultural conflicts in Africa have resulted in depression, loss of lives and destruction of properties, thus deteriorating the well‐being of the citizens. The objective of the study is to assess the effect of cultural conflicts on well‐being in 41 African countries from 2006 to 2017. This study adopted the Driscoll/Kraay estimator to address the concerns of cross‐sectional dependence. Cultural conflict is proxied by the ethnic tensions indicator while well‐being is captured by a subjective indicator of happiness measured as a life ladder indicator. The findings further reveal that well‐being is negatively affected by the interaction between religious conflicts and ethnic conflicts and interactions between internal conflicts and ethnic tensions. Robustness analysis is carried out by considering the factor of colonialism where the study sample is divided into two sub‐samples representing the former British and French colonies in Africa. The results reveal a negative effect of ethnic tensions on well‐being and also a negative role of religious tensions and internal conflicts on the modulating effect of ethnic tensions on well‐being in both former French and British colonies in Africa. The findings of the study recommend that policymakers should formulate policies that would improve intertribal relations, and ensure equality in public service and the management of state affairs to avoid intertribal conflicts which could help to improve the well‐being of all the citizens.