The current study examines the impact that technological innovation, foreign direct investment, economic growth, and globalization have on tourism in top 10 most popular tourist destinations in the world. The information on the number of tourists, foreign direct investment, growth in gross domestic product, GFCF, use of FFE, and total energy consumption were extracted from the World Development Indicators. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) database was used for collecting the statistics about technological innovation.  The source ETH Zurich has been utilized to gather panel data for the time period 2008 to 2022 to calculate the KOF Index of Globalization. Theoretically, FDI and Economic growth are the endogenous variables for the Tourism model. Whereas, TI, Glob, Energy Consumption, and GFCF are the exogenous variables. Hence, the analysis is based on the System Equation—Simultaneous equations, after checking identification that confirms the problem of simultaneity in system of 3 equations. The empirical outcomes suggest that TI, FDI, globalization index, GDP growth, and energy consumption are the most important factors that contribute to an increase in tourism. Likewise FDI as the endogenous variable is favorably impacted by globalization, technological innovation, fossil fuel energy consumption, gross fixed capital formation, and tourism. Nevertheless, the coefficient of GFCF is only insignificant in the study. While, globalization, TI, and FFE are also favorably affecting the FDI. GDP growth is the second endogenous variable in this research, and it is positively influenced by globalization, FDI, and tourism in the case of the top 10 nations that are most frequently visited by tourists.

This research systematically reviews the relationship between populism and economic policies, analyzing their impact on state development and growth. It is the first study to comprehensively examine the interaction between these two concepts through a systematic literature review. The review process adhered to the PRISMA protocol, utilizing the Scopus, EBSCO, and Web of Science databases, covering the period from 2012 to 2024. The findings reveal a deep interconnection between populism and economic policies, with significant implications for governance and socioeconomic well-being. The review identifies that neoliberal populism combines pro-corporate elements with populist rhetoric, favoring economic elites while presenting itself as beneficial for the “people.” Additionally, it underscores that neoliberal globalization has facilitated market liberalization but also increased inequality and undermined national sovereignty. The review concludes that while populism may offer quick fixes to immediate economic issues, its simplistic and polarizing approaches can be counterproductive in the long term. Thus, there is a critical need to reevaluate and reformulate economic and governance policies to balance global economic integration with the protection of citizens’ rights and well-being.

The quest for quality postgraduate research productivity through education is on the increase. However, in the context of the African society, governance structures and policies seem to be impacting on the quality level of the provided education. Hence, this conceptual study explored the roles of governance structures and policies in enhancing and ensuring quality postgraduate education programmers in African institutions of higher learning. To this end, various relevant literature was reviewed. The findings showed amongst others that governance structures and policies affect the quality of education provided. Meanwhile, other factors such as curriculum, foreign influence, lack of resources, training, amongst others contribute to the quality of education provided. The study concludes that there is need for the current structures of governance and the designed and implemented policies for postgraduate education to be reviewed and adjusted towards ensuring the desired transformation.