Terrorism, Economic Development, and Political Openness

This collection explores how terrorism is related to poverty in developing countries and their political openness.

Philip Keefer (Edited by), Norman Loayza (Edited by)

9781107411272, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 October 2012

328 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

Review of the hardback: 'An impressive roster of scholars offer a level of analysis in marked contrast to the continuing deluge of often superficial works on how to defeat terrorism. Along the way, they demolish some powerful myths - that terrorism is caused by individual poverty, or that terrorism is the outcome of irrational behavior - while raising fascinating new policy-relevant issues. Full of insights, my copy is heavily underlined. Bravo!' Brian Jenkins, RAND Corporation

To what extent are terrorism and development related? What are the relative weights of the economic, political, and social aspects of development? What is the development impact of different responses to terrorism? This volume addresses these crucial questions, synthesizing what we know about the development links with terrorism and pointing out what we do not. Contributors to this volume examine the economic and fiscal costs of terrorism and the response to terrorism. They conclude that the economic costs of terrorism in rich countries are low, relative to the economic costs of combating terrorism; both are likely high in poor countries. They also report evidence on how development affects terrorism. This work supports the hypothesis that political development - political openness and the quality of government - is inversely associated with the emergence of terrorist organizations, but not that poverty per se is directly responsible for terrorism.

Overview: terrorism, economic development, and political openness Philip Keefer and Norman Loayza
Part I. The Costs of Terrorism: 1. Economic consequences of terrorism in developed and developing countries: an overview Walter Enders and Todd Sandler
2. The costs of responding to the terrorist threat: the US case Gregory F. Treverton, Justin L. Adams, James Dertouzos, Arindam Dutta, Susan S. Everingham and Eric V. Larson
Part II. Development, Democracy, and the Origins of Terrorism: 3. From (no) butter to guns? Understanding the economic role in transnational terrorism S. Brock Blomberg and Gregory D. Hess
4. The Lexus and the olive branch: globalization, democratization, and terrorism S. Brock Blomberg and Gregory D. Hess
5. Kto Kogo?: a cross-country study of the origins and targets of terrorism Alan B. Krueger and David D. Laitin
6. Terrorism and civil war Nicholas Sambanis
Part III. The Origins of Terrorists: 7. The political, economic and organizational sources of terrorism David D. Laitin and Jacob Shapiro
8. Economics and terrorism: what we know, what we should know, and the data we need Fernanda Llusa and José Tavares.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Economics [KC], Comparative politics [JPB], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]