Citation

Christensen DA, Aars J. Terrorism Polit. Violence 2019; 31(3): 615-631.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/09546553.2017.1287700

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Fear is an integral part of terrorism. Fighting fear can thus be a crucial part of counterterrorist policies. In the case of terrorism, citizens look to the state for protection. Yet, most studies of terrorist fear emphasize individual-level factors. We lack studies that link fear to features of the state, especially whether democratic states are capable of reducing fear among its citizens. Our study aims to fill part of this research gap by asking whether democratic government reduces or increases fear of terrorism. We find that there is substantial cross-country variance in citizens' fear of terrorism. The results suggest that fear is more widespread among citizens in non-democratic countries compared to citizens in democratic countries. Actual exposure to terrorist attacks has no impact on citizens' fear of terrorism when we account for whether the country is a democracy or not. Hence, democratic government displays resilience towards fear mongering.

Language: en

Keywords

Democratic government; fear; fear mongering; resilience; terrorism