The Logic of Violence in Civil War: List of Tables and Figures

The paper investigates whether there is a connection between poverty or low education and terrorism. We review evidence on hate crimes, which are closely related to terrorism; the occurrence of hate crimes is largely independent of economic conditions. We analyze data on support for attacks against Israeli targets from public opinion polls conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; support for violent attacks does not decrease among those with higher education and higher living standards. The core contribution of the paper is a statistical analysis of the determinants of participation in Hezbollah militant activities; having a living standard above the poverty line or a secondary or higher education is positively associated with participation in Hezbollah. We also find that Israeli Jewish settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank in the early 1980s were overwhelmingly from high-paying occupations. Although our results are tentative and exploratory, they suggest that neither poverty nor education has a direct, causal impact on terrorism.

/pdf/education-poverty-and-terrorism-is-there-a-causal-connection-4unz30sobl.pdf

Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?

Interest in the concept of identity has grown exponentially within both the humanities and social sciences, but the discussion of identity has had less impact than might be expected on the quantitative study of political behavior in general and on political psychology more specifically. One of the approaches that holds the most promise for political psychologists is social identity theory, as reflected in the thinking of Henri Tajfel, John Turner, and colleagues. Although the theory addresses the kinds of problems of interest to political psychologists, it has had limited impact on political psychology because of social identity theorists' disinclination to examine the sources of social identity in a real world complicated by history and culture. In this review, four key issues are examined that hinder the successful application of social identity theory to political phenomena. These key issues are the existence of identity choice, the subjective meaning of identities, gradations in identity strength, and the considerable stability of many social and political identities.

From Social to Political Identity: A Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory

https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/S_Sonmez_Influence_1998.pdf

Influence of terrorism risk on foreign tourism decisions.

The perception of threat and the experience of anxiety are distinct but related public reactions to terrorism. Anxiety increases risk aversion, potentially undercutting support for dangerous military action, consistent with terrorists' typical aims. Conversely, perceived threat increases a desire for retaliation and promotes animosity toward a threatening enemy, in line with the usual goals of affected governments. Findings from a national telephone survey confirm the differing political effects of anxiety and perceived threat. The minority of Americans who experienced high levels of anxiety in response to the September 11 attacks were less supportive of aggressive military action against terrorists, less approving of President Bush, and favored increased American isolationism. In contrast, the majority of Americans who perceived a high threat of future terrorism in the United States (but were not overly anxious) supported the Bush administration's antiterrorism policies domestically and internationally.

Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies

Research on political terrorism, which began in the early 1970s, faces some persistent problems. These involve defining the concept, collecting empirical data, building integrative theory, and avoiding the attribution of terrorism to personality disorders or “irrationality.” Furthermore, analysis risks being driven by events or the concerns of policymakers. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that psychological explanations of terrorism must take multiple levels of analysis into account, linking the individual to the group and to society. Future research should critically examine the assumption that a “new terrorism” has appeared at the end of the 20th century. Analysts should also take advantage of 30 years of history to develop comparisons and developmental studies that look not only at the causes of terrorism but at changes in terrorist strategy, the termination of terrorist campaigns, government decision-making, and policy effectiveness.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3791798.pdf

The Psychology of Terrorism: An Agenda for the 21st Century

(1987). Theories of terrorism: Instrumental and organizational approaches. Journal of Strategic Studies: Vol. 10, Inside Terrorist Organizations, pp. 13-31.

Theories of terrorism: Instrumental and organizational approaches

Contents 1. Thoughts on Relating Terrorism to Historical Contexts Martha Crenshaw 2. The Intellectual Origins of Modern Terrorism in Europe Martin A. Miller 3. Russian Revolutionary Terrorism Philip Pomper 4. Left-Wing Terrorism in Italy Donatella della Porta 5. West German Left-Wing Terrorism Peter H. Merkl 6. Political Violence in Argentina: Guerrillas, Terrorists, and Carapintadas Richard Gillespie 7. The Revolutionary Terrorism of Peru's Shining Path David Scott Palmer 8. The Culture of Paramilitarism in Ireland Charles Townshend 9. Political Violence and Terrorism in India: The Crisis of Identity Paul Wallace 10. Political Violence in a Democratic State: Basque Terrorism in Spain Goldie Shabad and Francisco Jose Llera Ramo 11. The Effectiveness of Terrorism in the Algerian War Martha Crenshaw 12. Terrorism in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Targets and Audiences Ian S. Lustick 13. Terrorism and Politics in Iran Jerrold D. Green 14. Terrorism in the Context of Academic Research Michel Wieviorka

Terrorism in context

This study examines the spread of international terrorism from 1968 to 1974. Using Poisson and negative binomial probability models, a diffusion of international terrorism was found in the first segment of the time period (1968–1971) and contagion as a direct modeling process in the second (1973–1974). Accordingly, the theory of hierarchies in which the diplomatic status of a country predicts its degree of imitability was found to operate among Latin American countries during the second portion of the overall period, but not during the first. An inverse hierarchy is suggested as an explanation for the contagion of violence from Latin America and other third world countries to Western Europe. Autocorrelation functions were used to assess which forms of terrorism were most contagious in which regions.

Why Violence SpreadsThe Contagion of International Terrorism

The decline of oppositional terrorism is a critical question for both scholars and policy‐makers. The former have neglected the issue, while the latter have tended to assume that government policies of prevention and deterrence are the key determinants of outcomes. This analysis suggests that government actions must be seen in the context of the internal organizational dynamics and strategy of the opposition groups using terrorism. In some cases, terrorism is self‐defeating.

Martha Crenshaw

Papers

The Psychology of Terrorism: An Agenda for the 21st Century

Theories of terrorism: Instrumental and organizational approaches

Terrorism in context

Why Violence SpreadsThe Contagion of International Terrorism

How terrorism declines