Is Terrorism Still a Democratic Phenomenon?

Abstract

In recent years, multiple studies have confirmed that terrorism occurs in democracies more often than in nondemocratic regimes. There are five primary groups of explanations for this phenomenon, including the openness of democratic systems, organizational pressures resulting from democratic competition, the problem of underreporting in authoritarian regimes, gridlock resulting from multiparty institutions, and the coercive effectiveness of terrorism against democracies. Most of these studies, however, examine the relationship only through 1997. In this article, I explore whether terrorism has continued to occur more in democratic countries through 2010. I find that while terrorism is still prevalent in democracies, it has increased in “anocracies,” countries that policymakers would often describe as “weak” or “failed” states. I offer a potential reason for this increase: the American-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. I conclude by offering some insights into how the rise of terrorism in anocracies affects the typical explanations for terrorism and democracy, and I suggest a few ways to improve on our current understanding.

Keywords

Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, Weak States, Democracy, Anocracy, Iraq, Afghanistan, Occupation

Citation

Chenoweth, Erica, “Is Terrorism Still a Democratic Phenomenon?", Uluslararası İlişkiler, Volume 8, No 32 (Winter 2012), p. 85-99.

Affiliations

• Erica CHENOWETH, Assist. Prof. Dr., The Josef Korbel School of International Studies, the University of Denver, Colorado, The USA. Visiting Assist. Prof. at Stanford University, and Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, the USA.