TERRORISM, DEMOCRACIES, AND PARTISANSHIP:
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND INTRASTATE TERRORIST GROUPS
Open Access
Author:
Crisman-Cox, Casey Sean
Area of Honors:
Political Science
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
David H Carter, Thesis Supervisor David H Carter, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Gretchen G Casper, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Terrorism Domestic Violence Domestic Terrorism Political Parties Democracies Differences in Left-Right Governments
Abstract:
Research on how political parties affect conflict has so far ignored how left-wing and right-wing governments influence intrastate terrorism. I argue that in cases of intrastate terrorism, groups will attack right-wing governments more than left-wing governments. Groups ultimately want to obtain real concessions towards their ultimate goals. Consequently they have a desire to keep governments that are more willing to negotiate and make concessions (i.e. leftist parties) in power, while targeting more aggressive and less conciliatory (i.e. rightist parties) governments. Further, by engaging in more attacks against right governments, terrorist groups are sending costly signals to future governments that the group is capable of more than “cheap talk” and should be engaged with negotiations. Using data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, the Global Terrorism Database, and the World Bank’s Database of Political Institutions I explore how intrastate terrorist groups react to left and right governments from 1989-2007. I find that left governments are more willing to sign agreements with these groups and are attacked less frequently relative to right governments by intrastate groups. These findings stand in contrast to research done on transnational terrorist groups, which found that these groups target left governments more than right governments.
