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Great Expectations and Hard Times - The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism

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  • Sarah Brockhoff
  • Tim Krieger
  • Daniel Meierrieks

Abstract

This contribution investigates the role of education in domestic terrorism for 133 countries between 1984 and 2007. The findings point at a nontrivial effect of education on terrorism. Lower education (primary education) tends to promote terrorism in a cluster of countries where the socioeconomic, political and demographic conditions are unfavorable, while higher education (university education) reduces terrorism in a cluster of countries where conditions are more favorable. This suggests that country-specific circumstances mediate the effect of education on the (opportunity) costs and benefits of terrorism. For instance, the prevalence of poor structural conditions in combination with advances in education may explain past and present waves of terrorism and political instability in the Middle East. The results of this study imply that promoting education needs to be accompanied by sound structural change so that it can positively interact with (individual and social) development, thereby reducing terrorism.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Brockhoff & Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2012. "Great Expectations and Hard Times - The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism," Working Papers CEB 12-004, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/108550
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    Cited by:

    1. Efobi, Uchenna & Asongu, Simplice, 2015. "How Terrorism Explains Capital Flight from Africa," MPRA Paper 68662, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Daniil Romanov & Andrey Korotayev, 2019. "«Non-Violent, But Still Dangerous»: Testing The Link Between Youth Bulges And The Intensity Of Non-Violent Protests," HSE Working papers WP BRP 69/PS/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    3. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Shabbir, Muhammad Shahbaz & Malik, Muhammad Nasir & Wolters, Mark Edward, 2013. "An analysis of a causal relationship between economic growth and terrorism in Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 21-29.
    4. Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2016. "Does Income Inequality Lead to Terrorism?," CESifo Working Paper Series 5821, CESifo.
    5. Ali Ibrahim, 2020. "Issues in Higher Education: Analysis of 2017 Global Knowledge Index Data and Lessons Learned," Higher Education Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(1), pages 1-91, March.
    6. Syed Muhammad All-E-Raza Rizvi & Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis, 2019. "Economic, social, and institutional determinants of domestic conflict in fragile States," Working Papers hal-02340977, HAL.
    7. Amir Sabri & Günther G. Schulze, 2021. "Are suicide terrorists different from ‘regular militants’?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 155-181, July.
    8. Anna Karpova & Aleksei Savelev & Nataliya Maksimova, 2021. "Modeling the Process of School Shooters Radicalization (Russian Case)," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-26, December.
    9. Rafat Mahmood & Michael Jetter, 2020. "Communications Technology and Terrorism," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(1), pages 127-166, January.
    10. Benny Geys & Salmai Qari, 2017. "Will you still trust me tomorrow? The causal effect of terrorism on social trust," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 289-305, December.
    11. Asongu Simplice & Nwachukwu Jacinta, 2018. "Fighting Terrorism: Empirics on Policy Harmonisation," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 19(3), pages 237-259, August.
    12. Simplice Asongu & John Ssozi, 2017. "When is Foreign Aid Effective in Fighting Terrorism? Threshold Evidence," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 370-389, July.
    13. Asongu, Simplice & Efobi, Uchenna & Beecroft, Ibukun, 2015. "FDI, Aid, Terrorism: Conditional Threshold Evidence from Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 67856, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Krieger, Tim & Meierreiks, Daniel, 2015. "Does income inequality lead to terrorism? Evidence from the post-9/11 era," Discussion Paper Series 2015-04, University of Freiburg, Wilfried Guth Endowed Chair for Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy.
    15. Tausch, Arno, 2016. "Occidentalism, terrorism, and the Shari’a state: new multivariate perspectives on Islamism based on international survey data," MPRA Paper 69498, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Simplice Asongu & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2017. "Trade, aid and terror," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(1), pages 2-24, April.
    17. Muhammad Tahir, 2020. "Terrorism and its Determinants: Panel Data Evidence from 94 Countries," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, March.
    18. Shuo She & Qiao Wang & Dana Weimann-Saks, 2020. "Correlation factors influencing terrorist attacks: political, social or economic? A study of terrorist events in 49 “Belt and Road” countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 125-146, February.
    19. Marlies Sas & Koen Ponnet & Genserik Reniers & Wim Hardyns, 2020. "The Role of Education in the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-12, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    terrorism; education; negative binomial regression; revolution; conflict resolution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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