Does Higher Education Decrease Support for Terrorism?

Malečková, Jitka; Stanišić, Dragana

doi:10.1515/peps-2013-0027

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…The literature documents the importance of public support for the success of terrorist organizations (e.g. Atran, 2003; Siqueira & Sandler, 2006; Bueno de Mesquita & Dickson, 2007; Tessler & Robbins, 2007; Krueger & Malečková, 2009; Malečková & Stanišić, 2011, 2013; Jaeger et al, 2015; Toft & Zhukov, 2015; Polo & Gleditsch, 2016). Public support can include monetary assistance, in-kind assistance (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion and terrorism: Evidence from Ramadan fasting

Hodler

Raschky

Strittmatter

2023

Journal of Peace Research

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Do intense religious experiences increase or decrease terrorism? We argue that fasting during the month of Ramadan offers an ideal setting for studying this question empirically. Reasons are twofold: first, daily fasting from dawn to sunset during Ramadan is considered mandatory for most Muslims. Second, the Islamic Hijri calendar is not synchronized with the solar cycle. Therefore, the daily fasting duration during Ramadan is exogenous once we control for latitude and the seasonality of Ramadan, which we can do by using district and country-year fixed effects. Focusing on predominantly Muslim countries, we document three main findings: first, longer and more intense Ramadan fasting has a robust negative effect on the likelihood of local terrorist events and terror deaths over the next year. Second, this negative effect is particularly pronounced for operationally more difficult attack types, which are more dependent on public support for terrorism. Third, using survey data, we show that longer and more intense Ramadan fasting lowers the share of respondents who consider religiously motivated violence to be justified. These findings imply that intense religious experiences may not be a breeding ground for terrorism. Quite the opposite, they can decrease public support for terrorism and, consequently, terrorist attacks.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion and terrorism: Evidence from Ramadan fasting

Hodler

Raschky

Strittmatter

2023

Journal of Peace Research

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“…Kreuger [47], Maleckova et al [48], concluded that both poverty and poor educational attainment are not important causes of support for terrorism or involvement in terrorist activity and went so far as to say that people who are attracted to terrorist organizations are the elite of society. Middle or upper class persons are better able to carry out international acts of terrorism because of their knowledge and access to funds [46].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Public Support for Moderate and Extreme Terrorism

Norman¹

2017

J Foren Psy

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The purpose of this paper is to 'Compare Public Support for Moderate Terrorism and Extreme Terrorism' in high terror active nations (India, Iraq, Nigeria); medium terror active nations (China, United Kingdom, United States); and low terror active nations (Australia, Canada, South Korea); selected from the Global Terrorism Index (2014); and to explore the effects of greater levels of threat (because of increased terror activity), on support by the public. To assess the reliability and validity of a new survey instrument in measuring support for terrorism and to evaluate a series of exploratory questions of added value. The voids highlighted in this paper validate the need for an international legal definition of terrorism, which has eschewed researchers, thus creating the potential for widespread abuse and avoidance of existing terrorism laws. How the media frames a terrorist event plays a significant role in the publics' perception of terrorist organizations and the publics' willingness to support them. It was found that a high percentage of the public are incognizant of which organizations are terrorist organizations; how their donations are being utilized, and persons are often unaware of their role within a terrorist organization. The findings indicated that overall, respondents were least likely to support extremism. Men were more concerned than women about increased terror activity and anti-abortion rights. Women from high terror active nations were least likely to respond to the survey. This research sets the framework for further investigation into moderate and extreme terrorism and exposes the challenges faced by researchers in isolating factors that contribute to public support for terrorism.

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