Democracy, Unemployment, Corruption Control, and Human Development in Africa: A Panel-Data Framework

Journal: International Journal of Economics, Management and Accounting

Publication: 2026-10-23

DOI: 10.47353/ijema.v4i2.257

Abstract

This study develops an Africa-focused framework for examining the relationships between liberal democracy, unemployment, corruption control, and human development. Human development is conceptualized through the Human Development Index (HDI), while democracy is measured using the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index. Unemployment, control of corruption, economic growth, and foreign direct investment (FDI) are drawn from internationally comparable datasets, including the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and Worldwide Governance Indicators. The proposed observation period is 2010–2023, subject to data coverage and consistency across countries. The framework distinguishes the direct relationships of institutional and labour-market conditions with HDI from the possibility that democracy moderates the relationships between unemployment, corruption control, and human development. The theoretical argument is grounded in the capability approach and institutional perspectives on accountability and public-service delivery. Because the manuscript does not yet contain a merged country-year dataset or completed regression estimates, it does not claim empirical confirmation of the hypotheses. Its contribution at this stage is the specification of a transparent, testable Africa-specific research design. The manuscript can be presented as a completed empirical article only after the dataset is assembled, the models are estimated, and the abstract is revised to report the actual sample and findings.