How Terrorism Does (and Does Not) Affect Citizens’ Political Attitudes
A Meta‐Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6231082 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amélie Godefroidt (0000-0002-5010-2860, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 22-38 |
| Publication date | 2023-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ajps.12692 |
| OpenAlex | W4205309291 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 83 |
| References cited | 85 |
How does terrorism affect citizens’ political attitudes? Over the years, many scholars have tried to answer this question. This article performs a meta‐analysis on this literature, reviewing about 325 studies conducted between 1985 and 2020 on more than 400,000 respondents. The findings confirm that terrorism is associated—to a small but significant extent—with outgroup hostility, political conservatism and rally‐‘round‐the‐flag effects. At the same time, the effects of terrorism vary widely, with studies on Islamist violence, conducted in the United States or Israel, and using cross‐sectional data yielding stronger results on average. Finally, the review reveals remaining gaps in this field of study, including a lack of research on non‐Islamist violence or conducted in non‐Western contexts. Taken together, this meta‐analysis consolidates existing evidence, determines which results hold across contexts, and identifies key gaps in our current knowledge. Its data can also be accessed interactively via a Shiny App
Affect (linguistics · Conservatism · Criminology · Field (mathematics · Hostility · Meta-analysis · Outgroup · Political science · Political violence · Politics · Survey data collection · Terrorism · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
The hidden universe of operationalizing natural experiments
Revisiting the link between political trust and political participation
Right-wing terrorism and far-right support
The Distribution of Executive Power and Corruption
Mechanisms of change
Governing through pressure
Topical dynamics of terrorism from a global perspective and a call for action on global risk
Polarizing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on system justification
Why Americans Support Strict Counterterrorism Measures
Inconspicuous Terrorists? Effects of Terrorism News on Attitudes and Stereotypes About Muslims
The Onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic Made People Feel Threatened, but Had a Limited Impact on Political Attitudes in the United States
A Meta-Analysis of Studies Examining the Effect of Music on Beliefs
Rights for me but not for thee
Testing Theories of Threat, Individual Difference, and Ideology
Public trust towards police on a wartime rollercoaster
Threats and the conservative shift in public opinion
Does Islamist terrorism still affect political attitudes
Fear of crime among Europeans, and its relationship to social, political, and order-institutional trust
Ethnic-Racial Socialization in White American Families and Young Adult Political Attitudes
Executive Approval in Extraordinary Times
Reassessing Gendered Reactions to Terrorist Attacks
Religiosity and attitudes toward muslim immigrants in the context of a terrorist attack
Psychological and cultural effects of different kinds of danger. An exploration based on survey data from 79 countries
The impacts of armed conflict on human development
Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Antipathy Toward Immigrants and Sexual Minorities in the Early Days of the Coronavirus Pandemic in Italy
Migrant Deaths at Borders and Immigration Attitudes
Political legacies and present perceptions of migrants
Cyberattacks, Psychological Distress, and Military Escalation
Assessing Public Attitudes toward Random versus Symbolic Terrorist Targets
Biased Social Media Debates About Terrorism? A Content Analysis of Journalistic Coverage of and Audience Reactions to Terrorist Attacks on YouTube
The community impact of terrorism
When enough is enough
System justification motivation as a source of backlash against equality‐promoting policies—and what to do about it
See something, say something? The role of online self-disclosure on fear of terror among young social media users
The limits of cyberattacks in eroding political trust
Synthesize This
Rally post-terrorism
Climate shocks, regional favoritism and trust in leaders
The Invisible Impact of Conflict
Trust and development in conflict-affected countries
Exploring media responses to terrorist attacks
Coping with ongoing terror threats
How terrorism affects support for democracy
A Violent Win
Floods, terrorist attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic
Public Opinion and Leaders’ Crisis Behavior Against Domestic Armed Groups
Political Ideology as Historically Situated Motivated Social Cognition
The Impact of Terrorism on Democratic Support in Africa
Terrorist Attacks and Trust in Institutions
Who Gets the Guns? How Democratic Values and Security Threats Affect American Attitudes Toward Military Aid
Attitudinal and Behavioral Legacies of Wartime Violence
Psychological responses to jihadist terrorism
Jihadist Terrorist Attacks and Far-Right Party Preferences
Conflict and democratic preferences
I stand up for us
Natural Experiments of the Rally 'Round the Flag Effects Using Worldwide Surveys
Victims of Islamist and Right-Wing Terrorism in the Press
Harmful or helpful? Trust in the police after a shock
Terrorism, Perpetrators, and Polarization
Out-Group Threat and Xenophobic Hate Crimes
Is terrorism necessarily violent? Public perceptions of nonviolence and terrorism in conflict settings
Voters rally around the incumbent in the aftermath of terrorist attacks
A critical evaluation and research agenda for the study of psychological dispositions and political attitudes
Bearing the burden of peace
The affective nexus between refugees and terrorism
Does Political Trust Matter? A Meta-analysis on the Consequences of Trust
Geosocietal Support for Democracy
Political trust in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic
How terrorist attacks distort public debates
Terrified or Enraged? Emotional Microfoundations of Public Counterterror Attitudes
A meta‐analysis of the effects of democratic innovations on participants’ attitudes, behaviour and capabilities
Do jihadist terrorist attacks cause changes in institutional trust? A multi‐site natural experiment
Collective Victimhood Beliefs and Conflict-Related Attitudes
Does Right-Wing Violence Affect Public Support for Radical Right Parties? Evidence from Germany
How Crises Shape Circles of Solidarity
External Validity and Meta‐Analysis
Less Human Than Human
Disentangling the Relationship Between Prospective Expectations and Policy Preferences in Violent Conflicts
Long-Term Change in Conflict Attitudes
Right-Wing Terror, Media Backlash, and Voting Preferences for the Far Right
Are the Effects of Terrorism Short-Lived
The Psychology of Left-Right Political Polarization; and an Experimental Intervention for Curbing Partisan Animosity and Support for Antidemocratic Violence
Conflict exposure and democratic values
Meta‐Analysis
Democracy at Risk
In the wake of 9/11
Introduction to Meta‐Analysis
Boosting Belligerence
MetaSEM
Deliver us from Evil
Exposure to Political Violence and Political Extremism
Prejudice Reduction
Modeling dependent effect sizes with three-level meta-analyses
The Politics of Fear
Explaining opposition to refugee resettlement
Confrontational and Preventative Policy Responses to Terrorism
Three-level meta-analysis of dependent effect sizes
Framing Islam
Muslims are not Terrorists”
Terrorism in the eyes of the beholder
Conceptualizing Terrorism
Not All Terror Is Alike
Islamist Terrorism, Out-Group Trust, and Motivation to Control Prejudice
The Strategies of Terrorism
Civil Liberties vs. Security
Terrorism’s effects on social capital in European countries
It can happen here
The effect of a major event on stereotyping
Effects of terrorism on attitudes and ideological orientation
Evidence for terror management theory II
Threat causes liberals to think like conservatives
The consequences of terrorism on migration attitudes across Europe
Evidence for terror management theory
Terrorist attacks and Europeans’ attitudes towards immigrants
Do terrorist attacks feed populist Eurosceptics? Evidence from two comparative quasi‐experiments
The Idea of Terror
In‐group solidarity or out‐group hostility in response to terrorism in France? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design
The Politics of Threat
Predispositions and Public Support for the President During the War on Terrorism
The Polls-Trends
Terrorist Suspect Religious Identity and Public Support for Harsh Interrogation and Detention Practices
The Consequences of Terrorism
Applying the Theory of Affective Intelligence to Support for Authoritarian Policies and Parties
Ideology, Fear of Death, and Death Anxiety
Political Psychology
The Effect of Terror on Institutional Trust
Attitudinal and Emotional Consequences of Islamist Terrorism. Evidence from the Berlin Attack
Collective Trauma From the Lab to the Real World
Reactions to Terror Attacks
Fear, Anger, and Voting for the Far Right
Emotions, Terrorist Threat, and Drones
Protected by Ethos in a Protracted Conflict? A Comparative Study among Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem
Gender Differences in Support for Torture
Public Opinion and Decisions About Military Force in Democracies
How the Public Defines Terrorism
Authoritarianism, Threat, and Americans’ Support for the War on Terror
Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies
Rally effects, threat, and attitude change
Intergroup conflict self-perpetuates via meaning
A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory
Vicarious Retribution in US Public Support for War Against Iraq
A collective blame hypocrisy intervention enduringly reduces hostility towards Muslims
Political conservatism as motivated social cognition
Can War Foster Cooperation
The Dynamics of Public Opinion on Ethnic Profiling After 9/11
Do Commodity Price Shocks Cause Armed Conflict? A Meta-Analysis of Natural Experiments
Politicized Places
Presidential Popularity from Truman to Johnson
Terrorist Events and Attitudes toward Immigrants
One flag, two rallies
| Unique citing works | 83 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 20,75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 79 |