Structural Causes of Oppositional Political Terrorism: Towards a Causal Model

Abstract

The most prominent causes of oppositional political terrorism can be explained by three categories of theories: structural, psychological, and rational choice. While structural variables are most abundant, and much easier to operationalize and measure than psychological or rational choice factors, they have rarely been integrated into a causal model. Those models and theories that incorporate structural variables, however, suffer from a number of problems. The author analyzes these shortcomings then develops an original model through an examination of a complex array of structural factors descriptive of and associated with the dynamics of terrorism. To this end, the author looks at theories of terrorism, case studies of countries that have experienced terrorism, and movements that consistently relied on the use of terrorism to achieve their political objectives. The resultant factors are integrated into categories, and propositions concerning interactions are presented. Then a sketch of a general structural causal model of the conditions of terrorism is posited. The model is a better foundation for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the causes of terrorism.

Fighting terrorism in Africa: evidence from bundling and unbundling institutions

“…On the contrary, another strand argues that good governance may not be useful in mitigating terrorism because the interests of terrorists' organizations are not represented in government institutions of democratic politics (Gause 2005). This contending strand is supported by Ross (1993) who is of the perspective that, terrorism can sprout in societies endowed with comparatively good institutions because there are a plethora of factors in nations enjoying good government quality that indirectly or directly build on grievances as well as conducive conditions for terrorist activities. These include, inter alia: freedom of speech to express disagreement and dissatisfaction, access and freedom to the media and civil liberties.…”

The Impact of Terrorism on Governance in African Countries

“…In essence, societies with comparatively better levels of democratic institutions can harbor terrorism because there are a series of features in these societies that are conducive for the growth of terrorism. These consist of among others: civil liberties, freedom and access to media and freedom of speech in the expression of dissatisfaction and disagreement (Ross, 1993). While political access theories (see Eyerman, 1998) argue that the relationship between good governance and terrorism is weak because of features like judicial independence (Findley & Young, 2011); rule of law (Choi, 2010) and better conditions for conflict management (Li, 2005); another stream of the literature argues that terrorism is more likely to develop in conditions of government instability (Lai 2007;Piazza 2008a).…”

What Leads Some Ordinary Arab Men and Women to Approve of Terrorist Acts Against the United States?

“…Societal support, whether implicit or explicit, is often a critical facilitator for terrorist organizations, allowing them to conduct operations more frequently and more easily (Ross 1993).…”