Patterns of Violence or Violence in Patterns: Introducing the TEIRD Dataset

• In Event: Poster Session: International Security 2

Abstract

How do democracies respond to the growing threat of terrorism? Democracies are often an easy target for terrorist groups in part because democracies walk a delicate balance of trying to prevent future terrorist attacks while not engaging in response behavior that would violate democratic principles consistent with human rights protections, maintenance of civil liberties, and an emphasis on the rule of law. However, scholars’ ability to track counterterrorism responses in democracies remains limited. This paper introduces the Terrorism Events Immediate Response Data – or TEIRD – dataset, which provides original data on counterterrorism responses from Western European democracies in the post-9/11 era. Unlike existing datasets tracking government responses, the TEIRD dataset includes characteristics of response time in addition to the characteristics of responses pursued within the immediate aftermath of an attack, providing greater detail on conflict processes between terrorists and the governments they target. Additionally, this data comprises responses from several countries within a broader geo-political region. Analysis of this data suggests that democracies trend toward criminal processing in lieu of military responses. However, changes to the characteristics of attacks, including the lethality of an attack and additional logistic characteristics, influence changes in democracies' response behaviors.

Author

• Jayme Schlesinger, Rutgers University