Globalization and conflicts: the good, the bad, and the ugly of corporations in Africa

Using a novel georeferenced dataset on the affiliates and headquarters of multinational enterprises between 2007 and 2018 together with georeferenced conflict data for the African continent, this work establishes a causal link between the activities of multinational enterprises and violent conflicts: multinational activity increases the number of conflicts. This particularly applies to sectors intense in scarce resources, especially land. As farming is the primary source of food and income for Africans, land-intensive activity on the part of multinationals increases local grievances, escalating to violent actions. These effects are magnified in areas targeted for large-scale land acquisitions.