Skip to main content

What is the relationship between poverty and terrorism?

Good question! Economists, political scientists, and sociologists are actually still working on this one. If you just do a raw correlation between a country's income and its incidence of terrorism, there is a negative correlation: Poorer countries tend to have more terrorism. That doesn't prove that poverty causes terrorism, however—it could just as well be that terrorism causes poverty (it's not hard to see why it would be difficult to run a business in a...

Good question! Economists, political scientists, and sociologists are actually still working on this one.

If you just do a raw correlation between a country's income and its incidence of terrorism, there is a negative correlation: Poorer countries tend to have more terrorism. That doesn't prove that poverty causes terrorism, however—it could just as well be that terrorism causes poverty (it's not hard to see why it would be difficult to run a business in a place where suicide bombers are blowing people up), or that some third factor (like a weak or corrupt government) causes both poverty and terrorism.

Further research has generally failed to find a convincing causal link from poverty to terrorism. Terrorists as individuals are usually fairly well-educated, middle-class people, though they are often unemployed and socially isolated.

In addition to the sources at the bottom of my answer, here are some sources to read on the empirical research done on poverty's relationship with terrorism:

http://www.nber.org/digest/may05/w10859.html


http://www.globalenvision.org/2016/04/26/poverty-linked-terrorism


http://terrorism.about.com/od/causes/a/TerrorPoverty.htm


http://www.uvm.edu/~wgibson/PDF/kruger_mal.pdf


Given the current state of uncertainty in the research, I would say we should not dismiss the possibility that poverty contributes to terrorism, and we certainly have plenty of good reasons to want to reduce poverty in any case. Still, there are clearly other causes of terrorism as well, which may be more important. We should not expect that eliminating poverty from a country will be sufficient to also eliminate terrorism there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How and why does James Gatz become Jay Gatsby? Describe the young Gatsby/Gatz.

James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune,... James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune, whereas they arose from well-to-do families. Gatz became Gatsby through determination and discipline. At the end of the novel, the narr...
Post a Comment
Read more

What gift did Della buy for Jim and why in "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry?

Della buys Jim a watch fob because his watch is his most prized possession. Della and Jim Young do not have much money. Despite this, Della really wants to buy Jim a good Christmas present. She is even willing to sell her hair to get him a nice gift. This is ironic because we learn Della and Jim both highly prize her hair. Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which... Della buys Jim a watch fob because his watch is his most prized possession. Della and Jim Young do not have much money. Despite this, Della really wants to buy Jim a good Christmas present. She is even willing to sell her hair to get him a nice gift. This is ironic because we learn Della and Jim both highly prize her hair. Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair.  Della is still willing to sell her hair so she can b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Explain and discuss how the definitions of freedom change for the nation, for the freedmen and for southern whites after the Civil War.

After the Civil War, the definition of freedom changed in the nation, as slavery was ended with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The practice of slavery was disallowed, but definition of the freedom that would take its place was a subject of controversy, ongoing debate, and even violence in the decades to come.  For freedmen, freedom often meant reconciling with their families, who were broken up by slavery; choosing which church to... After the Civil War, the definition of freedom changed in the nation, as slavery was ended with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The practice of slavery was disallowed, but definition of the freedom that would take its place was a subject of controversy, ongoing debate, and even violence in the decades to come.  For freedmen, freedom often meant reconciling with their families, who were broken up by slavery; choosing which church to belong to without being ordered to attend religious services (or not to attend) by their mast...
Post a Comment
Read more