PL EN
CASE REPORT
Social cohesion in African countries. The role of remittances and the size of the welfare state
 
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Economic Journalism and Public Relations Poznan University of Economics and Business
 
 
Publication date: 2020-05-22
 
 
Corresponding author
Katarzyna Andrzejczak   

Department of Economic Journalism and Public Relations, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Al. Niepodległości 10/121B, 61-875 Poznań; author’s email address: kk.andrzejczak@ gmail.com
 
 
Problemy Polityki Społecznej 2017;38:13-34
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Social cohesion may be considered as a factor of economic development and therefore of paramount importance to African countries. Yet, there is limited number of studies that would aim to measure social cohesion in the African continent. This paper offers a social cohesion indicator grounded in an axiological model of social cohesion; it is based on the assumption that a society needs to share certain values in order to be cohered. This study provides a social cohesion rank for 13 African states and reveals that countries from North Africa are on average more cohered than the ones south of the equator. Also, Muslim countries prevail among the leaders of social cohesion. Furthermore, based on the OLS regression model results, the relevance of private remittances and the size of the welfare state as determinants of increased social cohesion in Africa is suggested.
 
REFERENCES (64)
1.
Abrams, D. (2016). In pursuit of harmonious cohesion. Psychologist, vol. 29(2), pp. 111–112.
 
2.
Adésínà, J.O. (2009). Social policy in sub-Saharan Africa: a glance in the rear-view mirror. International Journal of Social Welfare, vol. 18, pp. S37–S51. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2397.2009.00629.x.
 
3.
Andreotti, A., Mingione, E., Polizzi, E. (2012). Local Welfare Systems: A Challenge for Social Cohesion. Urban Studies, vol. 49(9), pp. 1925–1940.
 
4.
Andrews, R., Jilke, S. (2016). Welfare States and Social Cohesion in Europe: Does Social Service Quality Matter? Journal of Social Policy, vol. 45(1), pp. 119–140. DOI:10.1017/S0047279415000513.
 
5.
Andrzejczak, K. (2011). Cultural restraints of development in Central-Eastern Europe — attitudes towards work. In: D.E. Laouisset (ed.), Managerial Technology Transfer. New York: Nova Science Publisher.
 
6.
António, D. (2001). The Challenges for Africa: A Culture of Peace, Good Governance and People-Centered Development. Asia-Pacific Review, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 63–74.
 
7.
Anyanwu, J.C., Erhijakpor, A.E.O. (2010). Do International Remittances Affect Poverty in Africa? African Development Review, vol. 22, pp. 51–91. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8268.2009.00228.x.
 
8.
Autiero, G., Vinci, C.P.P. (2016). Religion, human capital and growth. International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 39–50.
 
9.
Barolsky, V. (2012). A better life for all, social cohesion and the governance of life in post-apartheid South Africa. Social Dynamics, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 134–151, online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0253....
 
10.
Bertocchi, G., Guerzoni, A. (2012). Growth, history, or institutions: What explains state fragility in sub-Saharan Africa? Journal of Peace Research, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 769–783.
 
11.
Birdsall, N. (2007). Do No Harm: Aid, Weak Institutions and the Missing Middle in Africa. Development Policy Review, vol. 25, pp. 575–598. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-7679.2007.00386.x.
 
12.
Borsenberger, M., Fleury, C., Dickes, P. (2016). Welfare regimes and social cohesion regimes: do they express the same values? European Societies, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 221–244. DOI:10.1080/14616696.2016.1172717.
 
13.
Boucher, G. (2013). European social cohesions. Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 215–234. DOI:10.1080/0031322X.2013.797170.
 
14.
Burnside, C., Dollar, D. (2000). Aid, Policies and Growth. American Economic Review, vol. 90, no. 4, pp. 847–869.
 
15.
Busso, S., Storti, L. (2013). Social cohesion and economic development: some reflections on the Italian case. Modern Italy, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 197–217. DOI: 10.1080/13532944.2013.783269.
 
16.
Chachage, S., Chachage, L. (2004). Social policy and development in East Africa: the case of education and labour markets. Dar-es-Salam: University of Dar-es-Salam.
 
17.
Coleman, J. (1988). Social Capital and the Creation of human Capital. American Journal of Sociology, vol. 94, pp. 95–120.
 
18.
Diawara, B., Chikayoshi, S., Hanson, K. (2013). Social Capital and Poverty Reduction: Empirical Evidence from Senegal. Review Of Applied Socio-Economic Research, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 41–74.
 
19.
Durkheim, E. (1977). The Evolution of Educational Thought. London: RKP.
 
20.
Easterly, W., Levine, R. (1997). Africa’s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions. Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 112, pp. 1203–50.
 
21.
Esser, I., Ferrarini, T., Nelson, K., Sjöberg, O. (2009). A framework for comparing social protection in developing and developed countries: The example of child benefits. International Social Security Review, vol. 62, pp. 91–115. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-246X.2008.01323.x.
 
22.
Farole, T., Rodríguez-Pose, A., Storper, M. (2011). Cohesion Policy in the European Union: Growth, Geography, Institutions. Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 49, issue 5, pp. 1089–1111.
 
23.
Fay, M. (2005). The Urban Poor in Latin America. Washington: The World Bank.
 
24.
Fonner, V.A., Kerrigan, D., Mnisi, Z., Ketende, S., Kennedy, C.E., Baral, S. (2014). Social cohesion, social participation, and HIV related risk among female sex workers in Swaziland. Plos One, vol. 9(1): e87527. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0087527.
 
25.
Green, A., Preston, J., Sabates, R. (2003). Education, Equity and Social Cohesion: A Distributional Model. Wider Benefits of Learning Research Report. London: London Univ. Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning. Online: ftp://c1s.ioe.ac.uk/pub/Wb1/Acrobat/ ResRep7.pdf.
 
26.
Grischow, J.D. (2008). Rural ‘Community’, Chiefs and Social Capital: The Case of Southern Ghana. Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 8, pp. 64–93. DOI:10.1111/j.1471-0366.2007.00163.x.
 
27.
Guibet Lafaye, C. (2009). Modèles de la cohésion sociale. [Models of social cohesion]. European Journal of Sociology, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 389–427. DOI: 10.1017/S000397560999018X.
 
28.
Hannequart, A. (1992). Economic and social cohesion in Europe: A new objective for integration. London: Routledge.
 
29.
HDI (2017). Human Development Indicator. Online: http://hdr.undp.org/en/data [accessed: 20.02.2017].
 
30.
Helliwell, J.F., Putnam, R.D. (2007). Education and Social Capital. Eastern Economic Journal, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1–19.
 
31.
Henrich, J., Ensimger, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Cardenas, J.C., Gurven, M., Gwako, E., Henrich, N., Lesorogol, C., Marlowe, F., Tracer, D., Ziker, J. (2010). Markets, religion, community size, and the evolution of fairness and punishment. Science, vol. 327, no. 5972, pp. 1480–1484.
 
32.
Hopkins, A.G. (2009). The New Economic History Of Africa. Journal of African History, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 155–177.
 
33.
Husain, I. (1994). The macroeconomics of adjustment in sub-Saharan African countries: results and lessons. EconLit with Full Text, EBSCOhost. [accessed: 17.05.2016].
 
34.
Johns, M. (2012). Quiet Diplomacy, the European Union and Conflict Prevention: Learning from the HCNM on Issues of Social Cohesion. International Journal On Minority & Group Rights, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 243–265. DOI:10.1163/15718115-01903006.
 
35.
Kirsch, T.G. (2014). Discordance Through Consensus: Unintended Consequences of the Quest for Consensuality in Zambian Religious Life. Journal Of Southern African Studies, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 1015–1030. DOI:10.1080/03057070.2014.946217.
 
36.
Knack, S., Zak, P. (2001). Trust and growth. Economic Journal, vol. 111, no. 470, pp. 295–321.
 
37.
Kurowska, A. (2011). Wskaźniki społeczne w polityce społecznej. Historia, teoria i zastosowanie w praktyce. Warszawa: Difin.
 
38.
La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F., Shleifer, A., Vishny, R.W. (1997). Trust in large organizations. American Economic Review, vol. 87, no. 2, pp. 333.
 
39.
Lange, J.M.A. (2006). Etendre l’acces a la prevention et au traitement du VIH dans un contexte de rarete des ressources: Defis et perspectives [Scaling Up Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Care in Resource-Poor Settings: Challenges and Opportunities]. Revue D’economie Du Developpement, vol. 4, pp. 119–139.
 
40.
Lipton, M. (2012). Income from Work: The Food-Population-Resource Crisis in the ‘Short Africa. Leontief Prize lecture, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 3 April 2012.
 
41.
Lishan, A., Wood, F. (1999). An investigation of the impact of information and communication technologies in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Information Science, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 307–318.
 
42.
Loewenson, R., Bambas, N.L., Wamala, S. (2010). Globalisation and women’s health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Would paying attention to women’s occupational roles improve nutritional outcomes? Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 6–17.
 
43.
Loewenson, R. (2007). Exploring equity and inclusion in the responses to AIDS. AIDS Care, vol. 19, pp. 2–11. DOI:10.1080/09540120601114790.
 
44.
Malunga, Ch. (2014). Identifying and understanding African norms and values that support endogenous development in Africa. Development in Practice, vol. 24, no. 5–6, pp. 623–636. DOI: 10.1080/09614524.2014.937397.
 
45.
Mkandawire, T. (2007). Transformative social policy and innovation in developing countries. European Journal of Development Research, vol. 19, pp. 13–29.
 
46.
Mwesigye, F., Matsumoto, T. (2016). The Effect of Population Pressure and Internal Migration on Land Conflicts: Implications for Agricultural Productivity in Uganda. World Development, vol. 79, pp. 25–39. Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wo....
 
47.
Nawa, L.L., Sirayi, H.M., Ebewo, P. (2014). Challenges of adopting culture-sensitive development framework in South Africa: a critical reflection. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 9 September 2014, pp. 1–17.
 
48.
Nnyanzi, J.B. (2016). What drives international remittances to Africa: Altruism, self-interest or the institutional environment? African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, vol. 7, issue 3, pp. 397–418. DOI: 10.1108/AJEMS-07-2013-0067.
 
49.
OECD (2011a). The new geography of growth. In: OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2011. Paris: OECD Publishing. Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/sti_....
 
50.
OECD (2011b). Perspectives on Global Development 2012: Social Cohesion in a Shifting World. OECD Publishing. Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/pers....
 
51.
OECD (2013). World Migration in Figures. A joint contribution by UN-DESA and the.
 
52.
OECD to the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development. Online: https://www.oecd.org/els/mig/W....
 
53.
Pates, M., Johnson, J. (2004). HIV/AIDS, National Security, and Global Stability. Human Rights, vol. 31, no. 4, p. 14.
 
54.
Posner, D.N. (2004). Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa. American Journal of Political Science, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 849–863.
 
55.
Prior, Ch. (2013). A Brotherhood of Britons? Public Schooling, esprit de corps and Colonial Officials in Africa, c. 1900–1939. History, vol. 98, issue 330, pp. 174–190. DOI:10.1111/1468-229X.12007.
 
56.
Putnam, R.D. (1995). Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America. The 1995 Ithiel de Sola Pool Lecture. PS: Political Science & Politics, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 664–683.
 
57.
Rakauskiene, O.G., Ivashinenko, N. (2011). The Economic and Social Cohesion of the EU: Methodology of Investigation. Intelektine Ekonomika, vol. 5, no. 4(12), pp. 575–589.
 
58.
Razin, A. (2013). Migration into the Welfare State: Tax and Migration Competition. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
 
59.
Small, M., Harding, D., Lamont, M. (2010). Introduction: Reconsidering Culture and Poverty. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 629, pp. 6–27. Online: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40....
 
60.
Solt, F. (2016). The Standardized World Income Inequality Database. Social Science Quarterly, vol. 97, no. 5, pp. 1267–1281.
 
61.
Spolaore, E., Wacziarg, R. (2013). How Deep Are the Roots of Economic Development? Journal of Economic Literature, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 325–369. Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jel.....
 
62.
Tabellini, G. (2008). Presidential address: institutions and culture. Journal of the European Economic Association, vol. 6, pp. 255–294.
 
63.
van Rooyen, C., Stewart, R., de Wet, T. (2012). The Impact of Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. World Development, vol. 40, no. 11, pp. 2249–2262. Online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worl....
 
64.
Vernooij, J. (2013). Religious Discourse, Social Cohesion and Conflict: Muslim-Christian Relations in Tanzania. Exchange, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 113–114. DOI:10.1163/1572543X-12341256.
 
ISSN:1640-1808
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top