1. The following countries are included in this sample: Algeria, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Tunisia, Nigeria, Mali, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

  2. Across Africa strikes for improved salaries and working conditions at the production sites of large multinational corporations have multiplied. In April 2010, workers at the Guinean Fria aluminium factory (part of Russia’s Rusal) obtained a significant salary increase, as did 7 000 striking workers at an ArcelorMittal plant in Algeria in January 2010. In Cameroon strikers at the independent port of Douala operated by French multinational Bolloré obtained similar results in April 2010 (Jeune Afrique, 2010).

  3. The PFI is based on measures of several components of political freedom. These measures include free and fair elections; honest tabulation of ballots; the extent to which citizens are free to organise in different political parties or groupings; whether there is a significant vote for the opposition and a realistic possibility of coming to power through elections; self-determination and freedom from any kind of domination; reasonable self-determination for cultural, ethnic, religious and other minority groups; and the extent to which political power is decentralised.

  4. The decline in violence by non-government actors since 2006 was largely due to the declining intensity of the conflicts in the Darfur region and Côte d’Ivoire.

  5. Ivanic and Martin (2008), for example, find that the large increases in food prices in 2007 and 2008 “appear likely to raise overall poverty in low-income countries substantially.”
  6. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/15/c_13780370.htm
  7. Between 2006 and 2009, Nigeria’s oil production dropped from 2.6 to about 1.7 million barrels per day. This drop was due to attacks against production sites and kidnappings of international staff by MEND, an armed rebel group.
  8. “Transparency International defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. […] The 2010 CPI draws on different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions. […] Broadly speaking, the surveys and assessments used to compile the index include questions relating to bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, and questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption efforts” (Transparency International, 2010).