A_Wanderer
ONE love, blood, life
Freedom squelches terrorist violence
KSG associate professor researches freedom-terrorism link
By Alvin Powell
Harvard News Office
A John F. Kennedy School of Government researcher has cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence is related to a nation's level of political freedom.
Associate Professor of Public Policy Alberto Abadie examined data on terrorism and variables such as wealth, political freedom, geography, and ethnic fractionalization for nations that have been targets of terrorist attacks.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/11.04/05-terror.htmlAlberto Abadie: 'In the past, we heard people refer to the strong link between terrorism and poverty, but ... when you look at the data, it's not there. This is true not only for events of international terrorism ... but ... also for the overall level of terrorism, both of domestic and of foreign origin.'
hopefully that can help destroy this meme about terrorism being the wests fault because of the inequality in the world. I am not saying that the west is not responsible for inequality but I am saying that attempting to lump terrorism with that problem is dishonest. An interesting conclusion of Abadie’s study is that terrorism reaches its highest levels in states that are making the transition to democratic governments.