tailieunhanh - Rooted in Poverty?: Terrorism, Poor Economic Development, and Social Cleavages

Some analysts caution against a low saving rate. They argue that high capital investment leads to higher economic growth and a higher future standard of living. But if capital investment is not financed by national saving it has to be financed by borrowing abroad. 20 Persistent borrowing from abroad builds up international liabilities and implies increasing flow of funds will be sent abroad as interest and dividends. National saving is composed of two components: private saving and public saving. Private saving is the saving by households and businesses while public saving is the budget surpluses of local, state, and federal governments | Terrorism and Political Violence 18 159-177 2006 Copyright Taylor Francis Group LLC ISSN 0954-6553 print 1556-1836 online DOI 095465590944578 Routledge Taylor Francis Group Rooted in Poverty Terrorism Poor Economic Development and Social Cleavages1 JAMES A. PIAZZA Department of Political Science University of North Carolina Charlotte NC USA This study evaluates the popular hypothesis that poverty inequality and poor economic development are root causes of terrorism. Employing a series of multiple regression analyses on terrorist incidents and casualties in ninety-six countries from 1986 to 2002 the study considers the significance of poverty malnutrition inequality unemployment inflation and poor economic growth as predictors of terrorism along with a variety of political and demographic control variables. The findings are that contrary to popular opinion no significant relationship between any of the measures of economic development and terrorism can be determined. Rather variables such as population ethno-religious diversity increased state repression and most significantly the structure of party politics are found to be significant predictors of terrorism. The article concludes that social cleavage theory is better equipped to explain terrorism than are theories that link terrorism to poor economic development. That terrorism and other forms of political violence are a product of poverty and poor distribution has become a core assumption among national and international policymakers since the events of September 11. The presumed link between material want and terrorist activity has been cited by political figures from across the political spectrum and has found its way into mainstream economic development and international security policy discussions while shaping debate on an array of issues from African humanitarian aid to the reconstruction of Iraq. To cite a few examples In November 2001 forty-one heads of state addressed the UN General Assembly .