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Testing the “Dick Cheney†Hypothesis: Do Governments of the Left Attract More Terrorism than Governments of the Right?

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  • Michael T. Koch

    (Department of Political Science Texas A&M University College Station, Texas, USA, mtkoch@polisci.tamu.edu)

  • Skyler Cranmer

    (Department of Political Science University of California, Davis Davis, California, USA)

Abstract

Do governments of the left attract more terrorism than governments of the right? We examine how the political orientation of governments affects the probability of states being the target of terrorist attack. We develop a series of related theoretical linkages between partisan orientation, policy choice, and terrorist behavior to explain why governments of the left should be more likely to see higher numbers of terrorist attacks than governments of the right. We test our expectations using two different datasets; the Database of Political Institutions and the Party Manifesto data against the ITERATE terrorism dataset between the years 1975 and 1997. The results suggest that governments of the left are more likely to be the targets of terrorism than governments of the right and that the causal mechanisms behind this outcome might be context dependent.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael T. Koch & Skyler Cranmer, 2007. "Testing the “Dick Cheney†Hypothesis: Do Governments of the Left Attract More Terrorism than Governments of the Right?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 24(4), pages 311-326, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:compsc:v:24:y:2007:i:4:p:311-326
    DOI: 10.1080/07388940701643672
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Lance Y. Hunter & Joseph W. Robbins & Martha H. Ginn & Aaron Hutton, 2019. "Meet in the Middle: Terrorism and Centrist Party Vote Shares in Legislative Elections," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 10(1), pages 60-74, February.
    3. Brender, Agnes, 2018. "Government Ideology and Arms Exports," ILE Working Paper Series 21, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.

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