Counterterrorism Policies and Attitudes Towards Out-Groups: Evidence from a Survey Experiment on Citizens’ Attitudes Towards Wiretapping

Abstract

Terrorism often leads to increased stigmatization of groups perceived as "outgroups". We test two versions of out-group theory and ask whether citizens clearly distinguish between radical Muslims and Muslims in general, or if the fear of terrorism is associated with a general distrust of Muslims? We conducted a survey experiment among Norwegian citizens designed to determine the effect of group treatments on the participants' attitudes towards wiretapping. We find that our group treatments strongly influence the participants' attitudes towards wiretapping. However, the hypothesis that the fear of terrorism leads to a backlash against Muslims in general is rejected. Still, Norwegians are prepared to give the police leeway towards the two groups identified by the police as the greatest security risks, i.e., radical Muslim and extreme right-wing groups. Our evidence suggests that citizens are capable of discriminating between groups who aim explicitly at undermining democracy and groups perceived as different from themselves.

Considered effective? How policy evaluations and threat perceptions affect support for surveillance in the context of terrorism

“…With reference to the terrorist group, respondents approve of surveillance measures to a higher degree if right‐wing extremists or Islamists (rather than left‐wing extremists) are the groups under consideration. This effect is statistically significant for targeted surveillance as an outcome and confirms existing findings on the role of group‐related threats in support of counterterrorism policies (see, e.g., Christensen & Aars, 2021). Support for state surveillance is further increased if multiple deaths can be expected to result from the terrorist attack (compared with injured victims) and if citizens (as opposed to politicians) are the targets of the attack.…”

“…We argue that this perceived effectiveness is a key criterion for evaluating the policy in question, given that reducing or eliminating terrorism and crime are major goals of domestic security policies. Further vignette dimensions include conditions that might also affect individual evaluations of surveillance measures: We control for different groups of terrorists, as representations of threat can differ between groups, and these representations have been shown to affect individual support for antiterrorism measures (see, e.g., Christensen & Aars, 2021). We also include the time frame of a potential attack, as reasoning on surveillance might depend on whether there is an imminent danger or if there is time to consider alternative avenues for averting danger.…”

Public Attitudes Towards Government Surveillance of Social Media in Australia

“…In section three, the paper offers detailed analysis of citizen views of state surveillance in specific use cases. This enriches the statistical findings on general attitudes (e.g., Davis and Silver 2004), focusing on specific use cases in relation to online communication (see Christensen and Aars 2021;Degli Esposti, Ball, and Dibb 2021;Trüdinger and Ziller 2022).…”

Fear of terrorist attacks and psychological distress in Sub-Saharan Africa: moderated mediation model

“…Fear of terrorist attacks (FTA) and psychological distress (PSD). Community members' fear of terrorism is an indispensable element of violence in general (Christensen and Aars, 2021) and relates to individual's feeling of anxiety regarding probable emergency situations that pose negative consequences for the masses. Fear associated with terrorism has been amplified and linked to inflated perception of risk and feeling of threat emanating from "symbiotic relation" between terrorism and the media (Spencer, 2012).…”