AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF TERRORISM: DEPRIVATION, ISLAMISM AND GEOPOLITICAL FACTORS

This paper analyses the number of terrorist attacks and their outcomes in the period 1997–2004. We investigate the hypotheses that deprivation is the underlying cause of terrorism and that geopolitical contexts cannot be ignored. The results from econometric OLS cross‐country testing of these hypotheses with data for two large regions of Eurasia seem to confirm our hypotheses, given that the determinants of terrorism differ in the two geopolitical areas and the number of terrorist incidents is negatively associated with the level of development, the literacy level and ethnic fractionalization, being positively related to mineral reserves, non‐democratic political regimes and participation in international organizations.