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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between internet use and democracy in Africa. It examines the non-linearities and causality between the two variables in the short and long run for 38 countries in Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe study is empirical. It uses pooled mean group and causality tests for the sample of 38 African countries.FindingsThe panel long-run and short-run estimates show evidence of significant non-linear relationship between internet usage and democracy. While internet usage is significantly and negatively related to democracy, squared internet usage is significantly but positively related. This suggests that internet usage increases with the decrease of democracy, but after a certain level of internet usage which is the turning point, democracy starts to increase. Additionally, there is uni-directional causality from internet usage to democracy. However, a bi-directional causality exists between squared internet usage and democracy.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical evidence from this study suggests that internet usage and democracy are highly interrelated to each other in Africa. The findings support that at the macro level, Africa is moving toward a new stage, where internet will lead to improved levels of democracy and digital politics.Practical implicationsRemarkably, the paper shows that democracy displays a quadratic relationship with internet usage. As a whole, the findings indicate a U-shaped pattern: democracy decreases with internet usage, stabilizes, and then increases. In other words, internet usage increases with the decrease of democracy, but after a certain level of internet usage which is the turning point, democracy starts to increase.Social implicationsMany African Governments that have frequently imposed restrictions on internet and social media need to stop. The decline in democracy as internet usage increases may be explained by more severity of these restrictions. However, the findings support that at the macro level, Africa is moving toward a new stage, where internet will lead to improved levels of democracy and digital politics.Originality/valueContrary to previous conceptual papers, the current study empirically investigates the causality between internet and democracy in 38 African countries. The findings indicate a U-shaped pattern: democracy decreases with internet usage, stabilizes, and then increases. In other words, internet usage increases with the decrease of democracy but after a certain level of internet usage which is the turning point, democracy starts to increase.

1: Introduction: Gender and climate change in Africa -- PART I: GENDER AND CLIMATE ISSUES IN AFRICA -- 2: Gender and Climate Issues in West Africa -- 3: Gender and Climate Issues in North Africa -- 4: Gender and Climate Issues in East Africa -- 5: Gender and Climate Issues in South Africa -- Part II: GENDER AND CLIMATE ACTION IN AFRICA -- 6: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in Africa -- 7: Inculcation of SDG13 and gender inclusion in climate change policy frameworks and strategies in Africa -- 8: Women empowerment for climate change responsiveness in Africa -- PART III: GENDER, CLIMATE ACTION AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION -- 9: Digital technology and climate change adaptation in Africa -- 10: Climate-Smart Agriculture for navigating climate-related challenges of women in Africa's agricultural sector -- 11: Renewable energy (green ICT) for climate change mitigation and energy sustainability: The African challenge -- PART IV: CONCLUSION -- 12: Green reskilling of women for climate action -- 13: Conclusion: Towards Policy Synergy in Africa.

This open access book explores the intersection of gender and climate change, suggests ways in which innovative technologies can accelerate climate relief actions, and offers strategies for integrating climate change initiatives into national policies and planning. By examining the devastating consequences of climate change on women and girls throughout the continent, the authors pose a crucial question: Does gender matter in climate change discussions in Africa? Political and social traditions have burdened women with greater vulnerability to the impacts of climate-related natural disasters, including violence, displacement, poverty, famine and lack of access to clean water. However, women are also key to effective and inclusive climate mitigation, adaptation, and decision-making. The authors provide a compelling discourse that identifi es the social and economic benefi ts for all citizens when genderinclusive policies shape equitable and targeted action plans, from mitigationto adaptation and funding. The UN's SDG 13 calls for urgent action and commitment to combat climate change. The implementable and action-oriented propositions presented in this book will be of interest to students, educators, practitioners, third-sector actors, and policymakers committed to gender equality, sustainable development and climate action in Africa.

This study examined the impact of oil price shocks on stock market prices volatility in Nigeria using non-linear cointegration approach labelled as Non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) which represents one of the major important contribution to the literature on the subject matter. The study was carried out using a quarterly data for the period of 1986 to 2016. The oil price shocks impact was disentangled or decomposed into oil supply shocks, oil demand shocks and oil specific demand shocks and the results from the empirical analysis revealed that, there is long run relationship among the variables and positive oil price shocks in its various forms which exert positive and significant impact on the volatility of stock prices in both long run and short run except for oil supply shock that have negative impact in the long run, while negative oil price shocks exert negative impact on the volatility of stock prices in both short and long run. However, the asymmetric result using Wald test shows that, the positive impact of these shocks on volatility of stock prices differs in both short run and long run. Therefore, the findings from the study affirmed the presence of nonlinear relationship between oil price shocks and stock prices volatility in Nigeria which is an indication that positive and negative oil price shocks affect stock prices volatility differently and this must be taking into consideration when formulating policy