Remittances, Terrorism, and Democracy

• In Event: Terrorism

Abstract

What effects do migrant remittances have on domestic terrorism? Existing literature suggests that remittances increase resources for domestic opposition groups, enhance their organizational capabilities, and lead to more terrorist attacks. However, we argue that the effect of remittances is different depending on the political institutions within a country. Specifically, while democracies provide access to legitimate politics, the barriers to enter legitimate politics can sometimes be quite high. Remittances help opposition groups overcome these costs and participate in legitimate politics, thereby reducing their incentive to rely on violent attacks. In authoritarian regimes, however, there are fewer opportunities for discontented opposition groups to engage in legitimate politics regardless of available resources, and so remittances lead to increases in violent political expression (i.e., more terrorism). Using data on domestic terrorism between 1971 and 2010 and a fixed-effects research design, we find evidence supporting our theory. The results demonstrate that remittances lead to a decrease in terrorism within democracies, whereas they increase the amount of terrorism within an autocracy.

Authors

• Casey Crisman-Cox, Texas A&M University

• Yohan Park, Texas A&M University