On Ethnic Conflict and the Origins of Transnational Terrorism
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Defence and Peace Economics
Volume
21
Issue
1
Publication Date
2010
First Page
65
Last Page
87
Abstract
Using the ITERATE dataset, we explore the origins of transnational terrorist activity, from 1982 through 1997, in 118 countries. We model terrorism, not as a function of a nation’s ethnic, religious or linguistic fractionalization, but as an independent measure of perceived ethnic tensions. When we control for institutional quality, evidence that political rights and civil liberties mitigate the terrorism‐producing effects of ethnic tensions exists only since 1990. Economic freedoms, on the other hand, robustly reduce the number of terrorist attacks originating in ethnically tense societies.
Recommended Citation
“On Ethnic Conflict and the Origins of Transnational Terrorism” (with Atin Basuchoudhary), Defence and Peace Economics 21(1) (February 2010), pp. 65–87; reprinted in Joshua D. Freilich and Steven M. Chermak (eds.), The Library of Essays on Transnational Crime, Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2013 (forthcoming).
