What drives ethnic terrorist campaigns? A view at the group level of analysis

Abstract

This article examines the drivers of terrorist campaigns waged specifically for the sake of ethnic identity groups. Terrorism scholarship has generally overlooked the ethnic dimension that some terrorist campaigns have in favor of building or testing theories applicable to all terrorist violence, regardless of ideological orientation. The research that does address ethnic terrorism attributes it either to a broad and vague notion of nationalism or to factors that might be idiosyncratic of a small number of cases. This study tests the causes of ethnic terrorism found to be of most theoretical salience: political and economic grievances with the host state and competition between the ethnic community’s elites for control over the group. It uses data at the ethnic group level of analysis, rather than the more common country level. In doing so, model results should offer improved explanations for the outcome of ethnic terrorism, linking group features, rather than country characteristics or subnational factors aggregated to the country level, directly to group terrorism. The results show that political grievances and elite competition increase the likelihood of ethnic terrorism, while economic grievances are not generally associated with this form of violence.

Sociopsychological correlates of militant extremist beliefs in a postconflict society: The importance of ethnocentrism and quality of interethnic contacts

“…Although ethnic identification has been recognized as a major source of extremist behavior (Masters, 2008), research on ethnic extremism is still underdeveloped. Certainly, the motivation of ethnic extremists is somewhat different from other cases of extremism or terrorism: the core grievances of ethnic extremism are based more on dissatisfaction in reference to the political goals of their national group than to other forms of deprivation, such as economic grievances (Boylan, 2016).…”

“…Importantly, these data are in line with previous findings regarding observed terrorist actions: ethnic polarization increases the probability of terrorism (Danzell, Yeh, & Pfannenstiel, 2019); this is highly relevant in the Serbian context because Serbs and Albanians in Preševo Valley live in spatially distinct communities. Psychological underpinnings of this connection are the political grievances experienced by the members of an ethnic minority group toward the majority group (Boylan, 2016); these grievances are often accompanied by feelings of political exclusion and discrimination (Hansen, Nemeth, & Mauslein, 2018). Both of these processes are congruent with the characteristics of Serbian–Albanian relations in the previous decades.…”

“…Militant extremists are characterized by authoritarianism and dogmatism (Borum, 2014). The role of social identity is very important in developing radicalized attitudes, especially among religious (Silke, 2008) and ethnic groups (Boylan, 2016). Relative deprivation—the belief that a group with which one closely identifies is subject to injustice or humiliation (Borum, 2015)—has also been identified as a major facilitator of extremism.…”

In pursuit of independence: the political economy of Catalonia's secessionist movement

“…It also presents an interesting juxtaposition to work on ethnic violence. It has been found that economic grievances do not generally propel ethnic terrorist violence after controlling for other relevant factors (Boylan ), but in the Catalan case, they do influence the secessionist movement, at least as defined in terms of fiscal frustrations.…”

Calling on Europe? Secessionist Political Parties and Their Communications to the European Union

“…This logic is also informed by the body of literature on ethnic outbidding and political violence (Bakke et al, ; Bloom, ; Boylan, ). The theory posits that ethnic elites adopt violent tactics to differentiate themselves from similar others within a competitive nationalist movement, particularly when the pursuit of power intensifies between them, to garner public support and resources (Reinares, , p. 127).…”